Of Flowers and Blood
by Hikari-chanX
Summary: Daryl has been held captive in the Sanctuary for a short time, only to find out that Negan's been hiding the fact he has a daughter. Lily is Negan's most prized possession, but what will he do when someone goes near his precious flower? And what if another woman suddenly comes into Negan's life and shakes up his world even more? Daryl x OC, Negan x OC
1. The Princess

I don't really work on a lot of my own fanfictions anymore since I do commissions mostly these days, but my friend _Cherokee_Rose_ and I have been working on a Walking Dead RP and I couldn't help but want to organize our posts and turn it into a fanfic since we both love the way it progressed.

Daryl x OC (Lily)

Negan x OC (Aria)

It will be rated M for future chapters! This was strictly just for fun and I'm so glad I have such an amazing RP partner that lets me be a crazy fangirl!

Negan's daughter, Lily, is inspired by Lili Reinhart

Aria Capleton is inspired by Nina Dobrev

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Damn it all, where the hell did that girl run off to now?! Negan's little princess was nowhere to be found. She wasn't in her room, she wasn't in the dining hall, and she wasn't roaming around anywhere within the gates of the Sanctuary. If Dwight didn't find her soon, his ass was going to get roasted in the furnace just like his face had already done. Between slowly breaking Daryl's spirit and keeping a close watch on Negan's daughter, it felt like all he had been doing lately was babysitting. He had so much shit to get done but first things first-he needed to find Lily and bring her back to her room before the big man himself noticed that the sanctuary was lacking in her "delightful" presence. In fact, he needed to find her before anyone realized she was missing. The walls had eyes and ears everywhere. Even if he did find her in the next ten minutes, if Negan caught wind that Dwight had even just temporarily lost sight of her, he'd be royally screwed. There was only one person on the Sanctuary grounds that Dwight could trust not to say anything and help him locate the pesky girl quickly.

"Come on. I have a special job for you," Dwight growled out as he reached out and seized Daryl's shoulder, dragging the newest prisoner with him as he made his way towards the back gates of the Saviors' headquarters. He had to be as sneaky as possible so no one would catch a glimpse of him taking the new guy off property. Daryl merely grunted as Dwight dragged him out the gates and towards the woods without being noticed by any guards. His wrists were raw from the metal cuffs that bound his hands together, and his oversized jacket with the letter "A" on it was covered in dirt and blood from having wrestled with Walkers all afternoon to help build a protective barrier around the Sanctuary. Daryl couldn't help but stumble as Dwight forcefully dragged him along after yanking him away from his post.

"Here's what's going to happen," Dwight said in an aggravated tone. "You're going to help me find Negan's daughter. She has a tendency to sneak out but Negan's given me strict orders to prevent that from ever happening again. If I don't find her before Negan gets back, my whole damn head's going to be skewered up on the grill tonight. And unless you don't want to be fried up along with me, I suggest you cooperate." This was the first time Daryl had ever heard of Negan having a daughter. In fact, it almost surprised him to hear that a monster like him even had the heart to help bring a kid into this world, let alone care about their well-being. Then again, Daryl didn't know much about the guy other than the fact he was a sadistic bastard who had mercilessly murdered both Glenn and Abraham. Daryl had barely been locked up in the Sanctuary for a week but it was more than enough for him to know that Negan needed to die one way or another.

"I don't care if he kills me," Daryl sneered. "This sounds like it's your problem."

"If it's my problem then it's your problem, too, jackass," Dwight snapped back before promptly releasing his grip on the other male. "You don't get it. Negan will literally kill everyone if she's not home safe and sound by the time he gets back. I wouldn't be surprised if he goes off and burns Alexandria and the Hilltop to the ground as well. So do the whole world a goddamn favor and help me look for her. She couldn't have gone far. I'll go this way, and you go that way." He pulled out a gun from his holster and pointed it at Daryl's chin. "But I swear to god, if you try to run off I will fucking blow your brains out. I'm only asking you to help because finding her keeps all of us intact. Plus, if you end up finding her, I swear I'll never play Easy Street to wake you up again. And I'll actually give you some decent fucking food for once." It looked like he didn't have much of a choice. Even if he did try to run, the woods were crawling with Saviors patrolling the barrier. There were also plenty of Walkers that'd love to get to a hand-cuffed man first.

"Fine. If I don't find her in twenty minutes then I'll meet you back here." With that being said, the two men split up to search the woods for Negan's most prized possession.

Lily woke up at 5 a.m. sharp that morning. This was the only time of day she could successfully sneak out of the Sanctuary and get to her own personal "secret base", but she had to move quickly and quietly. After taking a shower and pulling her blonde hair into a high pony tail on top of her head, she slipped into a white t-shirt underneath a cute pair of short, denim overalls that only reached down to her thighs. Despite the fact her father always sported around in heavy black leather jackets, her style was far more cute and feminine even if it wasn't the kind of style that suited this dark and dreary world they lived in.

She had had enough of being inside the sanctuary walls again. She had also had enough of the men in this place; especially her father. She had been sheltered ever since this damn apocalypse begun. She was never allowed outside the gates without an escort and it was almost always Dwight who was the biggest creep of all. At least she could have a break from Dwight and the other men of the Sanctuary at her secret base. Knowing they'd all be asleep at this hour anyway, except for the cooks who were slaving away making breakfast, she crept out of her room, silently closing the door behind her. Her red converse gently tapped on the concrete floor beneath her as she peeked around every corner. Making sure no one was around, she tightened her grip on her bookbag and sprinted towards the entrance of the sanctuary. The sun was just beginning to rise and she hopped over the chain link fence that wasn't occupied by walkers over on the side of the building.

Sometimes she often wondered why her father ever did the inhumane things he did and Lily vowed never to be like him. She tended to take more after her mother, anyways since they had always been very close when she was growing up. Her father had always said that Lily was the spitting image of her with her blonde hair and vibrant blue eyes. Lily had always worn that little flower locket around her neck that her mother gave to her on her eighteenth birthday. It was in the shape of a white lily flower; the flower Lucille had named her daughter after since it was always her favorite. Sadly, Lily's eighteenth birthday was the last birthday she had with her mama but she made sure to preserve the memory of her by remaining kind and gentle even in this distorted world.

Lucille was a very kind woman but her daddy wasn't. Two total opposites. Well, her father had been a long time ago but that changed when he stopped being faithful to his wife and turned to things like alcohol and debauchery for enjoyment in life. Lily would never forgive him for that. She never forgot that day in the hospital when her mama took her last breath and turned into a walker right before her and her father's eyes. In a frenzy, Negan had made an innocent boy put her out of her misery because he couldn't do it himself. Lily thought about things like that all the time, and although she tried to hide it from her father, she knew he still wished she would open up to him. Every time he did something rash, it just made Lily want to shrink further away from him. He may had been a pretty shitty father and husband before the apocalypse, but he was still a human. And yet, even that had changed over time as Negan took over various communities to make himself king of the new world. The amount of blood on his hands could fill up an entire river and he showed no signs of stopping. While she was nothing like him and had never hurt a single living person before, being a prisoner in the home built on the suffering of others made her just as bad. At least she had her secret base off the Sanctuary's premises where she could forget who her father was and a place where she could just be herself without any Saviors looming over her shoulder and watching her every move.

Once she hopped over the gate, she walked her usual trail in the woods. She had to be careful. God, she had to be careful. Walking corpses still littered the woods even though most of the Saviors patrolled the area to take down stray walkers to keep them from building up. The less walkers there were near the Sanctuary, the less of a chance it would be for them to eventually swarm the place and overpower their sturdy walls. Walkers were also not the only thing Lily had to worry about, either.

She'd need to get back in time before anyone noticed she was gone. All hell would break loose if Negan found out his daughter was lacking in supervision, and it'd be even worse if he knew about her secret rendezvous through the woods. Although Lily made sure to never venture too far away out of fear of the undead, just being out here put her at risk. Negan was never okay with Lily being anywhere remotely near danger which was why he mostly had her locked up in her room where he knew she'd be free from harm.

Lily knew her dad was still gone from making arrangements with Hilltop since he always left before she woke up. Dwight usually knocked on her door around noon with lunch to which she always told him she was perfectly capable of getting lunch herself. She didn't want servants and she especially didn't want someone like Dwight pretending he was her babysitter. She'd maybe have a few hours to herself before Dwight came to bring her lunch but that would be plenty of time for her to enjoy some peace and quiet by herself where could she pretend she was just a normal girl and not the daughter of some high-strung, narcissistic psychopath.

Pulling out her machete from her bag, the blonde made sure to be wary of her surroundings. She could see her secret base just up ahead and a sense of calm immediately washed over her. It was just an old treehouse in an oaktree in the middle of the woods but it meant the world to her and was the only place she could call her own. Obviously, someone must have built it for their kids before the world went to shit, and she always wondered what happened to the family that used to own it. It must have been their hideaway, just like it was hers now. She normally went up to the treehouse to go up there to paint or listen to an cd player she'd found tucked away in a chest in the treehouse along with some old posters she had hung on the wall. Most of them were band posters. Things like The Backstreet Boys and New Kids on the Block. She was amazed that she had even found things like that just tucked away in a cute little treehouse in the wood. In that treehouse she could decorate it how she wanted, she could do whatever she wanted, and she didn't have to answer to anyone. Her sweet little haven.

Lily hurried towards the oak tree but hadn't noticed the big tree root poking out of the ground. She stumbled over it clumsily, landing directly in the dirt face first. Normally falling in the woods wouldn't do much damage beyond a few dirty scrapes, or at worst a twisted ankle. But Lily, unfortunately, had the worst luck out of anyone she knew.

The tree root had caused her to trip but she had fallen onto a discarded piece of wood that had been staked into the ground, its sharp edge pointing straight up. She hadn't seen the root nor the erect, sharp piece of lumber until it was too late. It pierced through her skin, stabbing her right in the knee and slicing through her skin as she shifted around. Lily hadn't meant to, but the sharp pain that shot through her leg caused her to let out a shriek of surprise. She quickly examined the wound, cringing as blood trickled down from her gash.

She was hissing in pain to keep herself from screaming while she plucked out the chipped shards of wood that were sticking out of her leg like spikes on a porcupine. Fuck, it hurt so badly and it took all her strength to keep herself from crying. All she wanted was a peaceful morning to herself in the treehouse without Dwight pestering her or the other men in the Sanctuary leering at her like she was a piece of meat, but she had done screwed up and gotten herself hurt. It hurt like a bitch but that was the least of her problems. Once daddy found out Lily had somehow gotten injured, he would tighten up security around her and increase her bodyguards.

"Shit, shit, shit," she cussed to herself, trying to stand up. She had a basic first aid kit up in her base but it looked like she'd need something stronger to close up the wound, like stitches. Tears welled up in the corners of her eyes as she hobbled towards the big oak tree, regretting ever leaving the Sanctuary that day.

The rustling of some nearby bushes made Lily's heart stop. She didn't even have time to panic before a limping corpse appeared behind the oak tree, its long arms outstretched in her direction. Its eyeballs had rotted out and the monster's jaw had long since fallen off with a set of upper teeth attached to its decaying face. It still managed to growl as it hobbled towards her, and Lily's cheeks turned as pale as the sheets on her bed. She took a step back and was met with another surge of intense pain in her knee, but if she didn't get out of there fast, she was bound to be hurting in a lot more places than just that.

Lily quickly bent down to scoop up the machete she had dropped during her fall. She hadn't really had to fight off many walkers before since her dad had always protected her from them himself with the trusted bat he had never after her mom, but she was still confident she could take out the walker with her machete. That confidence quickly disappeared when a few more shadows stumbled out from behind the trees, each one missing a fair amount of skin, bones, and limbs as they walked towards her with sluggish movements.

Her scream must have alerted them to her location. In seconds, she was being pursued by six sluggish corpses, each one with an animalistic need to feed. She'd be the first thing on their menu if she didn't hurry up and forget the pain from her defective knee and haul her ass out of there. One walker would be easy enough to take down. But six?! No way! She sprinted away as fast as she could, heading towards the riverside. Lily knew that if she found the small creek, she could easily find her way back to the Sanctuary no matter how deep she had venture forth.

Ignoring the searing pain in her leg, Lily pushed her way through the thick foliage of the forest and made sure her pace was faster than the limping walkers behind her that were still hot on her trail. This was all so stupid. She should have been paying more attention to everything. If she ended up getting ripped apart by those hungry, lifeless scavengers, it would be her own damn fault for wandering through the endless maze of trees alone and without protection.

By the time Lily was almost out of breath, she had already caught a glimpse of the small creek that she had always used as a marker to find her way through the woods. As luck would have it, there was an old hollowed out tree along the bank. Walkers weren't the brightest of creatures and wouldn't be able to tell where she was as long as she didn't make a sound, so the injured girl darted towards the thick tree and wedged herself into the opening of its trunk. It was barely big enough for her to squeeze herself inside, but it was much better than blindly opening herself up to an attack. Hopefully she could hide out there until the walkers wandered away so she could make her way back to her treehouse and tend to her injured knee before going back to the Sanctuary.


	2. The Surgeon

Well this certainly sucked.

Everybody talked about how awful an apocalypse would be for the young children that were too small to fight, or the elderly that were too slow to run, or even the sick that were too exhausted to keep going. But did anyone ever talk about those who lost their only pair of godforsaken glasses that kept their near-sided ass from getting devoured by walkers? No? Thankfully, Aria was only near-sided and not completely blind or anything. She could tell where buildings were to keep her from walking into them and she could tell that trees were trees and cars were cars. Had this not been literally the end of humanity as the world knew it, her biggest issue with not having 20/20 vision would be that she couldn't watch TV unless she was sitting up close to it or that she'd get fired from accidentally mistaking a person's head from their ass on the operating table at the hospital she worked at-no biggie, really. But out here in the woods, everything was her enemy and those with poor vision were just as good as dead.

Aria had been living in Alexandria for the past year. It had been a miracle she and her younger brother, Alex, had stumbled upon the gated safe zone in the midst of chaos after their first base had been destroyed. For the first six months of the outbreak, they had been hiding out in the Piedmont Fayette Hospital that Aria had been working at since she graduated from med school. The hospital was a great base at first. They still maintained electricity even after the power everywhere else had gone out, sturdy fire shutters kept the dead out, the cafeteria was full of goods, and they had all the medical equipment they needed to help the patients that had already been admitted even before the outbreak started. The best part of riding out the apocalypse in the hospital was that she had grown up in Fayetteville, Georgia all her life and knew most of the people that had also taken refuge inside the large building. Everyone had been so willing to help out one another and everyone did their part to keep the order and balance flowing. Some people guarded the exits to keep the walking corpses out, others worked in the kitchens to help ration out portions with the food since there was no telling how long they'd be trapped for, and then fellow doctors like Dr. Aria Capleton worked day in and day out to keep the injured and the sick from falling victim to the unknown virus that was spreading through the country like a nasty plague.

Back then, no one could have anticipated just how long it would be before the virus that caused the dead to rise would remain a problem. Aria had been one of the naïve ones that had once believed the military would eventually intervene and things would go back to normal in less than a year, but she learned the truth the hard way when riots began to break out in the hospital the longer they were cooped up inside. The power eventually went out. Supplies eventually got shorter and shorter. Worst of all, arguments and fights broke out every day as their situation began to grow more and more hopeless. Piedmont Fayette Hospital was no longer a safe place for Georgia residents as frantic people began to fight and mercilessly slaughter each other over things like food rations, resulting in a sea of walkers flooding every floor. Unless Aria and her twelve year old brother wanted to meet their demise in one of the many cold, empty hospital rooms they had been hiding out in, they had no choice but to flee.

The Alexandria Safe-Zone in Virginia had been more than welcoming to them when they arrived and Aria had no problem offering up her services as the community's one and only certified surgeon in exchange for food and a home. She had befriended so many wonderful people inside their safe little community but things could only go well for so long. Aria had already that the dead weren't nearly as frightening as the living could be, but nothing could have prepared her for the tyranny of the Saviors. They had taken almost everything from them. Half of their supplies, half of their food, half of their happiness. And they would keep coming back for more and more. She had believed that Rick and his gang would be their blinding light at the end of the dark tunnel, but not even Rick was a match for the Saviors. After Glenn and Abraham died, Alexandria just wasn't the same. And with Daryl gone, their spirits were broken even more. Aria wasn't much of a fighter herself and preferred to be the "fixer-upper" of those who did fight, but even she had no choice but to help the gang out and scrounge up supplies outside the walls of Alexandria before the Saviors came back.

But during their last raid, why did the Saviors have to take all of her extra pairs of contacts?! _Damn_ , what was the likelihood of them actually needing contacts in her exact prescription anyways? They were being just plain assholes by this point and not even taking things they actually needed anymore just to make a statement to Rick. To make matters even worse, she had lost her only pair of glasses after a gang of walkers surrounded her and the other members of her scavenging team just a few hours before. So here she was, all alone in the woods and just about as blind as a fucking bat. All she wanted to do was find Michonne and get back to Alexandria as quickly as possible. She had no idea if the other members of their team had made it back home safely or not, but if anyone was injured then they were going to need their one and only doctor to lend a hand. There was no way she could just leave them hanging like that.

Aria could only guess that she had been by herself in the woods for just a few hours. It couldn't have been past eight or nine in the morning, and luckily she hadn't run into any flesh-eating monsters in the mood for some breakfast. Sweat was breaking out along her forehead and her long, brown hair was sticking to the back of her neck as bugs began to fly around her head and nibble on her thin, scrawny arms. She grumbled to herself, swatting them away as she relied on her ears to listen out for any sounds of stirring in the hot, muggy woods. Unfortunately, her vision out there was so poor that she didn't even see the drop-off into a muddy creek until it was too late. The poor, clumsy brunette slipped down the wet, soggy bank and landed right on her ass, knee-deep in grimy water. Her only pair of blue jeans were now soiled and her favorite purple top was now a filthy mess, too.

Great. Just great. Could things get any worse out there? Even though her vision wasn't up to par, she could at least hear like a normal human being and was soon picking up on the sounds of someone—or something-nearby. Her fall must have startled whatever it was, whether it was a person, animal, or walker, since she could hear the shuffling of limbs and leaves from inside a tree right beside her. "H-Hello? Someone there?"

Lily had been trapped inside that damned hollowed out tree for over thirty minutes until she had encountered another person. For thirty long minutes she had to endure the pain of her sliced up knee, endure the annoyance of the mosquitoes nipping at her neck, endure the heavy humidity that made her hair stick up in ten different directions, and endure the gross feeling of water and mud seeping through her shoes until she couldn't even wiggle her toes without feeling the muck inside of her socks. Dealing with all of those things was still better than getting chased by zombies and Lily had initially planned on just waiting things out until she was certain it was safe enough to make a run for it. Her treehouse wasn't too far from where she was so if she could somehow make it back there, she could rest up, clean up her knee, and get some nice, cold water in her system before she made the long trek back to the Sanctuary. At this point, she didn't even care how angry her dad was over her sneaking away. Her safety was her number one priority and today would be a success if she could just make it back home in one piece.

However, as soon as she thought the rotting enemies were gone, sure enough she watched as a woman tumbled down the bank of the river right in front of her.

At first, Lily thought she may have been a walker but oddly enough...no. She was in fact just a living, breathing person. Lily sat her bag down on the ground as she stepped out of the tree. "Jesus, you took a fall there! Are you okay!?" Lily asked, rushing towards the girl who looked like she'd been through hell.

Aria heard the girl's voice loud and clear as she looked up to see a young, pretty blonde crawling out from a strange hiding place within a tree. "Um, I think so?" Meeting another girl out here in the woods, especially one who looked so similar in age to her, was definitely the strangest thing that could have possibly happened to her. Well, maybe not the _strangest_ thingbut it sure as hell wasn't everyday that Aria got to meet another person taking a stroll through the woods. Situations like these could easily be a trap and she needed to be on her guard in case the other girl wasn't alone.

The blonde offered out a hand to her and smiled. "At least let me help you up," Lily said reaching out to her over the water. "What are you doing all the way out here? Were you attacked by walkers?"

Nodding, Aria took the hand outstretched to her and allowed the other girl to help her up. "Something like that," she replied. "I got separated from my group when a giant herd of them came out of nowhere and surrounded our vehicle. Are you alone?"

"Yeah, I'm alone. I was just on my way to somewhere when a few of the dead had me surrounded. I've been hiding in that tree for a bit, waiting for those monsters to leave before I could make it back to my personal hideout," Lily said, noticing the poor girl's soiled outfit. "Come to think of it, I think I have some spare clothes in my hideout if you want me to take you there. It's just a tree-house a little ways from here—nothing fancy—but I'm sure you'll feel better after getting out of those wet, soggy clothes."

Aria was a bit hesitant to just up and agree to go with a girl she had just met to some secret hideout in a treehouse. Rick Grimes had warned her about situations like these. Not every person you meet in this world has your best interest at heart, he had taught her, and it was always best to be cautious of everyone you encounter. Sure, this girl may seem sweet and harmless but there could easily be a group of heinous men lurking behind the trees, just waiting for someone to get ensnared by their little lamb's charm. She might have claimed to be alone, but trusting her so soon could easily lead her down a perilous path. It was better to be safe than sorry. Right before Aria was about to decline the girl's offer to go with her to her hideout, she noticed drops of crimson trickling down her leg from a rather painful looking injury.

"Damn, what happened?!" She gasped, getting down on one knee to inspect the girl's injury. "You're worried about me getting clean clothes when you're the one with the banged up knee?" The cut was rough and jagged, full of dirt and mud—this type of injury was not caused by another person or weapon. It looked like she had fallen or something of the sort. The likelihood of this girl being a decoy to trap someone else was getting lower and lower since she couldn't imagine an injury like this being done on purpose to earn sympathy points.

The blonde sighed, shrugging her shoulders. "I tripped and fell which alerted the walkers towards me. But don't worry—the pain isn't getting to me too badly. I can still stand and walk, as you can see."

Aria straightened herself up, a frown on her face. "It may not hurt that badly now, but it looks like you will need some stitches unless you want it to get infected. Lucky for you, I have some bandages and antibiotic cream in my bag that could at least hold you off for a little while. How far did you say your treehouse was? I'm a doctor so I'd be happy to offer up some bandages in exchange for clean clothes."

"I'll gladly take you up on that offer and I promise it's not too far. I come out here all the time and I use this creek as a marker for where my treehouse is," the blonde replied. Bandages would be incredibly helpful and would make her father less suspicious of her injury if she had it treated before she even got back to the Sanctuary. She could even ask Dr. Emmett Carson to stitch her up whenever she got home and maybe she could even convince him to keep her injury a secret from daddy. Of course, she'd probably have to swipe some cookies or brownies from the kitchen and offer it to him as hush money but it wasn't like this would be the first injury she had to ask him to keep a secret.

"By the way, my name's Lily. Are you from a community nearby?" She grinned as she turned on her heels to lead the way towards her secret base. This might have been the first girl her own age that she had met since this whole mess with the walking dead had started, and a part of her hoped that maybe they could get along and be friends even if that meant they could only meet up every now and then at her treehouse in secret. Daddy definitely couldn't know that Lily had just met a pretty girl in the woods since he had a tendency to steal and collect women like they were trophies he could set out on a shelf as decorations.

"It's really nice to meet you, Lily. I'm Aria. You have no idea how scared I was being out here by myself considering I dropped my one and only pair of glasses when the walkers attacked my friends and me." Aria wondered if it was safe to reveal the name of her community to someone she had just met, but with her eyesight as poor as it was, it might be impossible for her to make it out of here without the assistance of someone else. Michonne had driven them pretty far away from Alexandria to hunt for more resources to give to the Saviors and Aria didn't have the slightest clue how to even get back home. She had hoped that maybe she would eventually bump into one of the others sooner or later, assuming they had made it out all right, and they could all go back together but who knew where they even were. Lily was her best shot at getting out of here alive, and as long as she wasn't leading Aria right into the hands of cold-blooded killers, it should be safe to trust her with information regarding where she was from. "Oh, I'm from a place called—"

Aria didn't get a chance to finish her sentence as the blonde quickly held up a hand to silence her. Lily had heard sticks breaking in the short distance of the woods and she immediately froze before shooting a glance at her new friend.

" _Hide_ ," she whispered sharply.


	3. The Meeting

**Chapter 3**

 **This story is based off a RP between my friend _Cherokee_Rose_ and I and our OC's. We're such fangirls and getting back into RPing has really helped me with my depression! I've been transcribing it into a fanfiction so both of us can enjoy reading it again.**

 **Also, I will be continuing my other Bleach fanfics at some point so don't worry. I just needed to work on something fun so I don't stress myself to death with the fanfiction commissions I write on a daily basis. Sometimes it's okay to write for yourself and not always for others, ya know?**

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To think that Dwight was actually letting him walk off into the woods by himself was beyond him. Daryl could have easily broken the metal cuffs around his wrists—well, maybe not _easily_ —and found his way back to Alexandria. The consequences, however, outweighed the risk. He knew these woods were full of Saviors on patrol and he had a feeling he wouldn't make it very far without either Dwight or someone else finding him first.

But searching for a child in the forest was like looking for a needle in a haystack. They could easily hide behind trees without being seen or even crawl into some bushes. Daryl had to rely on his ears to help him find Negan's missing daughter, hoping that maybe she would give away her position by stepping on twigs or rusting some bushes.

That's when he heard the voices.

Daryl heard two women speaking before he could even see them and he quickly ran towards the direction of the noise until he came across a small creek.

This whole time he had been looking for a child through the woods due to the way Dwight had mentioned Negan's overprotective habits over his kid. Plus, it would have been easier for a small child to break out of the sanctuary than a full grown adult. Either way, to say he was surprised to see a grown woman with hair the color of the sun was an understatement. She couldn't have been much older than her early twenties, and the two made direct eye contact as Daryl stepped out into the clearing.

The moment he saw the blonde, a familiar name rolled off his tongue before he could stop it. "... _Beth_?" He wished he could have stopped it before it came out but the sight of a blonde in the woods had been so startling.

It wasn't Beth. He knew it wasn't Beth. But this girl couldn't have possibly been the infamous daughter of Negan. No, this girl had to be someone else.

Lily and Aria had no time to hide before he appeared from the woods. He was looking right at Lily but she was certain she had never seen him before. He was tall, scraggly, and dirty looking but he had this aura to him that she wanted to discover for herself as to what it was. She'd heard him say, " _Beth_ " and she shook her head slowly, giving him a wary eye. "N-no...I'm Lily. Sorry. Who are you?" Lily asked, keeping her distance.

The illusion was over before it started. The more he looked at her, the more Beth's image faded around her. They may have had similar hair but that was it. This girl was a bit older and had more of a mature aura to her despite the twinkle of curiosity that flickered in her vibrant eyes.

Lily saw the handcuffs around his wrist and the thick sweater he was wearing with the letter A on it. She knew that symbol all too well—her daddy always made his prisoners wear it.

Reacting fast, Lily knew she needed to warn the brunette behind her. Having someone from the Sanctuary out here, whether he was a prisoner or not, was bad news.

"Shit! Aria listen, you need to run. If they get you and take you back it won't be good for you." She said, low enough for her new friend to hear.

But, what she didn't know was that Aria knew this guy from Alexandria. Daryl Dixon, the loner country-boy who mostly kept to himself, hadn't really interacted much with the surgeon who spent most of her time in the small doctor's office of Alexandria. Poor Aria couldn't even tell who it was that Lily was talking to. From where she stood, he looked like nothing more than a blurry potato, let alone Daryl Dixon.

Daryl looked past Lily to see a familiar face standing on guard behind the girl named Lily. He had been too stunned by the presence of the blonde to even notice the other girl at first but once he saw her face, he realized he definitely knew her. Wasn't she that airheaded nurse in Alexandria? He had never really talked to her much himself but that was definitely her. He was about to ask what the hell she was doing all the way out here and so far from Alexandria but didn't get the chance to.

Before anything else could be said, here came Dwight from the depths of the woods. He whistled at this sight of Aria. "Well, well, well. Two babes in the woods. Must be my lucky day!"

Aria froze as another man came bouncing up behind them with no warning. Was that Negan? She had only cause glimpses of the leader of the Saviors from afar, always choosing to hide in the infirmary every time he came to pick up stuff Rick and the others had gathered from him. Shit, Aria really should have known this was a trap. A poor girl lost in the woods with a bloody knee...Yeah, the perfect bait to rally up some stupid, caring individual. She cursed herself for being so naïve as she squinted her eyes, trying to make out the details of the mysterious man in front of her. He was inching a little too close to her for comfort and she could make out his gross, sweaty, lizard-looking features—definitely not Negan.

"Damn. With a body like that, Negan'll want to meet you," Dwight said, shooting a wink at the brunette and eyeing her up and down like a lecherous creep.

"Don't fucking touch her," Lily sneered at Dwight. "Leave her alone. She has nothing to do with this situation. It's me you were looking for right?" Lily frowned, stepping in front of Aria protectively. "So leave her out of this and just take me home," she pursed her lips tightly and glared at Dwight.

"You know this guy, Lily?" Aria asked quietly, taking a step behind the blonde. Judging by the other girl's reaction, she highly doubted that Lily had anticipated these two men showing up.

Daryl grinded his teeth tightly together in agitation. Why did Dwight have to show up now of all times? If this girl really was Negan's daughter, then she had to have left for a reason. And hell, could anyone blame her after having that beast of a man as a parent? Had he not been cuffed up like the pathetic prisoner that he was, he would have beaten Dwight to a bloody pulp to make sure both girls could escape. Surely the nurse knew her way back to Alexandria but she was looking right at Daryl and acting like she didn't know who he was. Did she have amnesia or something? She normally wore glasses so maybe she just couldn't see him very well. It wasn't as if he had really announced himself, either.

None of that mattered though. The only thing that was important was getting those girls away from Dwight.

Thinking fast on his feet, Daryl charged at the lanky man like a raging bull, knocking him off balance. With a fearsome roar, he turned to look at both women. "Hurry! Get out of here! I'll hold him off!"

Lily grabbed Aria's hand, pulling her along behind her. She looked at the man who'd given them time to flee with an empathetic look before she sprinted through the forest.

Daryl had managed to knock Dwight onto the ground but he didn't stay down for long. Fighting with his hands bound by handcuffs was just asking to be punched in the gut which Dwight had swiftly done the moment he regained his balance and crawled to his feet. He then slammed his fist right into Daryl's cheek with all the strength he could muster, knocking the young man out cold. His body slumped to the ground and Daryl's last thought before slipping out of consciousness was wondering just how far the girls would manage to get.

The two women weaved through the trees, jumping over fallen tree branches and various bushes until the treehouse came into view. Thankfully, all the walkers from earlier were gone. Lily ushered Aria up the wooden steps of the ladder first before following after her.

Both girls struggled to catch their breaths for a moment. Aria was stunned by how determined Lily was to get her to safety. She was clearly connected to the Saviors in some bizarre way but she was different from the others; she was actually trying to get away from them. Perhaps she was from another community much like Alexandria's and was being held there against her will, or maybe she hated what the whole group stood for and just wanted to get away. Either way, she must have been pretty damn important for someone to go and hunt her down to bring her back without shooting her on the spot for turning her back on the Saviors

"Who were those guys?" The brunette asked as she wiped a bit of sweat from her forehead onto the back of her hand. "Do they know about your treehouse? Do you think they'll find us here?"

Lily was shuffling through some boxes inside of her treehouse. "It's long a story, but I don't think anybody knows about this place. At least, I've never told anyone about it," she replied, handing Aria a spare shirt and some shorts. "Here, these are mine but they should fit you fine."

Aria nodded her head in thanks. She had been too busy fretting over the whole situation and following Lily's lead that she forgot about her clothes that were drenched in mud and filth. After she stripped off her clothes, she slipped the denim shorts over her waist—they were a little tight, but not too bad—before throwing the black t-shirt over her head.

Once she was dressed in a clean pair of clothes, she began to fish through her own brown leather satchel that she had been carrying that only held the most basic of essentials—bandages, a water bottle, a compass, a flashlight, and a knife. "All that running must have hurt your knee worse," Aria said, pulling out her bandages. "We should clean the wound and bandage it up before it gets infected—"

Lily interrupted her as she held up a hand. "Look, we both know I have to go back. But as long as you stay here you should be safe. There are water bottles hidden under the latch over there underneath the floorboards along with some food. Take what you need. If you can make it out of here, please...try. Get as far away from here as possible, Aria." The blonde placed a hand on her shoulder, a strained smile forming on her face.

"You've got to be kidding me! I thought you were trying to run away from those guys but now you're going back?!"

"I promise I'll be fine," Lily reassured her. "If I don't go back, someone might get hurt."

Aria couldn't understand why Lily was insisting she had to go back even though she had gone through the trouble to leave in the first place, but the blonde was already climbing back down the ladder before she could even stop her. "Wait! What about your leg?!"

Her words fell on deaf ears as Lily reached the bottom of the ladder and began darting off in the direction that they had come from. There was a good chance the girl was only going back to prevent the guy, Dwight, from chasing after them. But who was the other man that had tackled him? Damn, if only she had her glasses.

Chewing on her thumb nail, she struggled to decide what to do. On one hand, she could slip out of the treehouse and try to find her way back home while Lily held off Dwight. But on the other hand, wouldn't that be really shitty to do considering all the trouble she had gone through to get them both to safety?

Lily was running back in the direction of where Dwight found her, ignoring the searing pain in her leg. She didn't see anyone. But then, she felt two hands grab her and pull her into them. A high pitched scream erupted from the back of her throat as she turned to see who had wrapped their sweaty hands around her. She then felt them put their hands over her mouth.

"Hush up darlin' or do you want the whole god damn horde to hear you?" Came Dwight's raspy voice into her ear. "Where's your friend, huh? You can't keep a hottie like that from us."

Lily bit down on his fingers hard to get him to release her.

" _Ahhhhh_! Bitch!" Dwight retaliated as he struck her across the face. Lily fell on the dirt below him as he towered above her.

Her cheek stung painfully from the impact of his hand, but she still sneered up at him nonetheless. "What? You're gonna' tell Daddy what I did?"

Dwight just scoffed. "I may get into some trouble but if he finds out we were both gone then I'll let Negan know you aren't the little virgin he thinks you are."

Lily really didn't like the way his lips curved up into a sinister smirk. He then leaned over her as he licked his lips at the way her shorts rode up a bit too high. "As long as you cooperate there shouldn't be any mishaps, now should there?"

"Fuck you, Dwight." Lily glared and gritted her teeth at him, her hand balling up into a fist as she saw where he was going with this. "I may look like a naive little princess but if you touch me and my daddy _will_ kill you."


	4. The Truce

Daryl woke up to the sound of Dwight and Lily shouting at each other. Pushing himself up into a sitting position was hard to do with his hands cuffed but he achieved his goal anyways. He blinked away his delirious disposition before noticing exactly what Dwight was planning to do the young woman a few feet away from him. Dwight was pushing up her shorts, exposing more of her legs and hovering over her like a hawk about to snatch up a tiny rabbit.

Dwight hadn't noticed Daryl was already on his feet until his gruff voice reached his ears. "For someone who said that girl was the most important thing to Negan, you sure are gutsy for laying your hands on her," Daryl scoffed, blood trickling down from the spot where Dwight had quite literally punched the daylights out of him. All this time he had just assumed that everyone in the damn Sanctuary were terrified of Negan and thus did whatever he said, but it looked like there were still some shitheads there who had no problem double-crossing him and touching things that he cherished most. Whether the chick was Negan's daughter or not didn't really matter to Daryl-all he saw was a sick pervert trying to force himself on a girl and that was enough to make him sprint towards them and try landing a rough kick on Dwight's head.

Lily's eyes went wide as she saw Daryl dropkick Dwight as Dwight fell on top of her. She immediately pushed him off and quickly stood up. The kick had been more than enough to knock Dwight flat on his ass and it also had landed him a nice, painful concussion.

Lily looked over at Daryl, the man that had just saved her from getting molested by Dwight. She wanted to thank him but this wasn't exactly the time for pleasantries. "C'mon," she said. "There's a machete in my bag. I can help you get out of those handcuffs with it but let's get away from him first." She pointed to a passed out Dwight before remembering she had dropped her bag with the machete inside near the tree she had sought shelter inside of earlier.

The older man nodded and followed the blonde over to where she had left her bag, watching her pull out a large, rusted machete she had no doubt stolen from someone inside of the Sanctuary. "Hold still, okay? I don't want to accidentally cut you." She had him hold his wrists over a large boulder while she pushed down on the blade, grinding the thin chains of the cuffs until Daryl could break his wrists apart. The entire time, he remained completely silent and simply watched the girl's movements as she cut him free.

"I didn't catch your name earlier," she softly mentioned. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, but my name is Lily. And if you wanted, you could run free." She added, tucking a stray piece of blond hair behind her ear. "I wish I could leave..."

Of all the things he had expected, having the daughter of his greatest enemy offer to help him out was not one of them. When she had asked his name, he wondered if it was a trick question. Most of the people back at the Sanctuary always expected the answer to that question always be "Negan", but she had also mentioned that her name was Lily-no Negan attached to it even at the end. "Daryl," he said in a low voice, turning away from her. "Daryl Dixon." All in all, this girl was a mystery but at least his wrists were free.

He slowly slid his steely gaze back to her, his brows furrowing just a bit. "Don't just stand around wishing you could leave. If you want to leave, do it. You managed to break out of the Sanctuary so you could easily dodge the other Saviors patrolling these woods if you wanted to. What's stopping you?"

She averted his gaze by putting her machete away and instead pulling out an old, dirty T-shirt she had carried with her. Ignoring his question, Lily took a step towards him. "Here, let me dab your face. You're injured." She searched for any signs that he would let her touch him but when he made no sudden movements and only returned her words with silence, she assumed it was fine and wiped the blood on his face onto the shirt. He'd basically saved her ass and he didn't even know her. And from the looks of it, this man had suffered a lot because of her father and the Saviors.

As she reached forward to press the cloth against him, Daryl didn't move a muscle. Instead, he took the time to inspect her closely. It didn't look like she was hiding any guns or even explosives on her but there was no telling what all she could still be hiding. It didn't make sense as to why Lily was leaving herself wide open for an attack. They were on opposite sides of the playing field and here she was letting her guard down and even offering to help him. Either she was incredibly cunning and had a sinister plan up her sleeve, as expected as the daughter of Negan, or she was just plain dumb.

Without warning, a timer began to beep inside of her bag. "Shit!" She cursed, knowing exactly what that meant. It meant she had thirty minutes to get back before her dad came back from one of his visits to the nearby communities. She hadn't even realized it had gotten later into the day. If he noticed she was gone, all hell would break loose. "Daddy will be home soon. You need to hurry up and get out of here if you're going to escape!"

The timer startled Daryl and on impulse he reached forward and snatched up her wrist before yanking her towards him, pulling her against his muscular chest and trapping both of her arms behind her back by twisting them. For all he knew, the beeping could have been a bomb or a way to alert the other Saviors as to where they are.

"Cut the shit," he growled out into her ear, holding her securely against him. "Why the hell would you let me just walk out of here freely? And why should I trust that you're not just going to run home and tell everyone I kidnapped you, beat up Dwight, and then escaped? Sounds to me like that's a sure way to get Negan all fired up. He'd send his lackeys to go burning down all our homes without a second thought."

Lily shrieked at his sudden move as he had her pinned against him. "Are you serious? I actually want to help you!"

"And why the fuck should I believe you?!" He scoffed, continuing to hold her prisoner as he tightened his grip around her arms. Lily winced in pain and squirmed against him and his muscular arms.

"You don't understand! I have nothing to do with daddy and his plans! I want to get away from him just as much as you do but I can't. I can't just run away! Daddy would burn the whole damn country to the ground looking for me. Trust me, I've tried and it didn't end well." She hissed before relaxing herself against him, no longer struggling. "Go ahead," she nodded her head towards her bag. "Check my bag. I have nothing to hide, Dixon. I'm giving you freedom but if you wanna' accuse me of ratting you out then whatever! I was just grateful that you stepped in and got that asshole off of me before he could do anything..."

After listening to what she had to say, Daryl paused for a moment and contemplated on what he should do next. There really wasn't much she could gain from tricking him and after a few more long, agonizing seconds of deliberating, he finally released her form his hold and the blonde staggered forward. Her arms ached from where he had twisted them behind her back and she rubbed out the kinks in her shoulder by palming her hand against her bicep.

"Here." Lily bent down to pick up her bag before shoving it into his hands roughly. "The timer is for me to keep track of how long I've been out in the woods. It's a way for me to know how long I've got before I have to come crawling back to that damn sanctuary. There. Happy?" She scoffed, clearly irritated he had gone as far to subdue her even after his little scuffle with Dwight. Nobody was trusting these days, and while she could understand why, she still wished he would have allowed her to explain herself before snatching her up like that.

Daryl was searching through her bag, making sure she didn't have a walky-talky or any kind of communicator with her father since that would have been her greatest weapon of all. One panicked phone call would be all it took for Negan to gun Daryl down in these woods, but there wasn't anything like that in her bag.

"Now, if you don't mind...I've got to get back home," she sighed, taking her bag back from him once he seemed satisfied after going through it. She then picked up the machete she had used to cut through Daryl's hand-cuffs and placed it back inside before swinging her back over her shoulder.

The man's lips were pursed together to form a neutral line on his face. She really was planning on going back to Sanctuary even after everything. "You're seriously going to let me walk free and not feed your father some bullshit story about how I kidnapped you or some shit? And what about Dwight? What if he tries to pull something once I leave?" This girl was a mystery but he was grateful he had encountered her. If not, he may have been trapped inside those godforsaken walls for who knows how long.

"If Dwight tries to come up with something sneaky, I'll make sure my daddy knows he's lying. Luckily for you, Negan thinks of the world of his baby girl and would never suspect of her lying about anything. Dwight, on the other hand, has given daddy his fair share of problems. I'll just tell him that Dwight took me into the woods to hurt me and you saved me. I mean, at least it's mostly true, right?" The young woman smirked as she turned her back on Daryl and began to walk towards the Sanctuary.

With his eyes trained on her back, the redneck folded his arms over his chest and cocked his chin up. "You know, you really could just not go back. There're plenty of communities that would be willing to take you in, Alexandria being one of them."

Lily stopped, sighing as she looked down at her feet. He really didn't get it but she supposed that no one was going to understand unless they were in their shoes. "I already told. _I can't_. Going against my father's wishes would affect everyone for the worst and I can't take that kind of risk. No one else needs to suffer for my sake."

To Daryl, it sounded like she was more like a prisoner to her father than his daughter. No child in their right mind could be okay with the acts of terrorism their father was committing on a daily basis. He couldn't imagine why anyone would stay in the Sanctuary of their own free will when it was just as easy for them to sneak out of it as it was for others to be thrown in.

"Fine, then. Do what you want," he grunted. If she didn't give a shit about leaving, then he wouldn't give a shit about someone who was too cowardly to stand up to their father. Hell, if he was Negan's kid, he would have murdered his father a long time ago. Of course, there was no way for him to ever understand the things she had been through nor did he care to even try to understand them. For all he knew, Negan could have some sick, twisted emotional chains around her neck to keep her from stepping out of line. Maybe he had her mother locked up in a basement or something weird like that and would kill her if Lily tried to run away... Either way, it wasn't his problem anymore. He was free of the Saviors, Negan, and that little blonde. Now all there was to do was to hurry up and find that airheaded doctor that had run off in the woods to escape Dwight. She couldn't have gotten far and it would be easier for the two of them to make it back to Alexandria than for them to go solo.

Before Lily left out of sight, she cast Daryl one final glance over her shoulder.

"Oh," she added with a wink. "And if you touch me again, Dixon, I can't promise this machete won't go through you."


	5. The Iron

Daryl's freedom didn't last long. He had only just started searching in the woods for the lost doctor from Alexandria, Aria Capleton, who had gotten separated from her scavenging team. Lily had helped her escape from Dwight and he highly doubted she had gotten very far on her own, but unfortunately someone else had found her before he did.

"Don't move a muscle! Put your hands where I can see em'!"

 _Shit_! Daryl had been so distracted by Lily and Dwight that he had almost forgotten that Negan had minions hiding around in every nook and cranny of these woods. Lily had taken her machete with her, not before giving him that lovely threat of course, and he didn't have anything to his name to defend himself with. Daryl slowly craned his neck to look behind him only to see that he was surrounded by five burly looking men that had probably been in a biker gang in their previous lives-leather jackets, tattoos, and all. One person with them, however, didn't look like she had ever even been on a motorcycle in her life.

"I SAID DON'T MOVE A FUCKING MUSCLE! MOVE AND I'LL BLOW HER FUCKING BRAINS OUT!"

Aria couldn't help but flinch as the Savior holding her arm squeezed even tighter. She had gotten captured by these men on her way back to Alexandria, but for all she knew she could have been heading down the path towards Zimbabwe. Now wearing the clean pair of shorts and tank top that Lily had given her, Aria could do nothing but let the men tie up her wrists and jerk her around like she was some ragdoll.

Daryl stared at Aria with an almost annoyed expression. So much for escaping. He knew it wasn't her fault since Negan made sure the woods surrounding his base were fully guarded with his men, but knowing that he was about to get dragged back from the hellhole he had just escaped from was enough to make him feel sick. Dwight must have called for back-up on his radio and delivered their exact location while he ran back to Negan's side like the bloody coward he was.

One of the Saviors knocked Daryl to his knees, apprehending him like the escaped prisoner that he was before slamming the butt of his gun into the back of the redneck's skull. He was out cold in seconds and Aria feared she was about to receive similar treatment. Instead, a sack was thrown over her head to keep her from seeing where they were going.

"H-Hey! Let me go!" The brunette shouted, struggling against her captors. There was little point in them trying to blindfold her with a potato sack; it wasn't like she could see jack shit anyways without her glasses. The men obviously ignored her protests as they shoved her through the woods until they reached the road where their motorcycles were waiting for them. Daryl had dragged along with them by two other men as if he were a lifeless corpse, and soon both prisoners from Alexandria were hoisted onto the motorcycles and carried back to the Sanctuary where their fates would soon be decided.

* * *

Just as Lily had finished climbing the fence to sneak back into the Sanctuary, Negan had just pulled up in front of the compound in his signature black truck. "Just in time. Thank god," she muttered under her breath as she heard the engine of his vehicle as she maneuvered her way to the front of the factory. While she managed to have beat her father back, Dwight was already waiting for him at the front gate, eager to spill on the beans on their little fiasco in the woods.

The cocky scarface was leaning against one of the walls outside smoking a cigarette as he grinned at Lily before he casually approached Negan's halted car in hopes of giving his boss an earful before Lily could even reach them. Lily, however, wasn't about to let the bastard get close enough to even talk to her father as she took off after Dwight, yanking him back around the corner of the building and slamming his back against the wall. Before Negan even stepped out of his truck, Lily had Dwight pinned to the wall as she held her machete up to his throat. "Don't you dare say a fucking word," she gritted her teeth, ready to slice that scrawny little neck of his head up for trying to assault her in the woods. With the weapon in her grasp, she had the upper hand this time.

Simon was the first to step out of the vehicle and then Negan jumped out of the truck next, whistling. "Goddamn, it's nice to be home!" He grinned, stepping around the truck and twirling Lucille around in one hand.

Upon hearing his boss's booming voice, Dwight decided to put his plans of ratting out Lily and Daryl on hold unless he wanted that machete to carve out his esophagus. "All right. Fine," he hissed at the blonde. "I won't say jack shit about you escaping the Sanctuary as long as you don't say shit about anything either. As far as we're both concerned, Daryl just happened to fucking escape and neither of us had anything to do with it. That way you don't get in trouble for running away, and I don't get in trouble for letting Daryl outsmart me. Deal?"

Lily simply glared in response before drawing away from him. Like hell she was about to try to keep him in her father's good graces after the shit he pulled with her in the woods, and she simply remained silent as she watched Dwight slink away into the factory through a back door, presumably to come up with a plan on what to do about Daryl.

Lily was left by herself on the side of the building as she heard her father's whistling get a bit louder—he was headed this way. As his steps drew closer, she became more nervous. Lily quickly patted some unruly stands of her hair down, knowing good and well that she looked like she'd been through hell and back. Could she somehow convince her daddy she had been a good girl and stayed behind the walls of the Sanctuary all day? Her bloodied up knee and muddy clothes wasn't a good indicator of that. Lily also knew wasn't the best liar at all and her father almost always saw through her bullshit.

Negan's rounded the corner of the building, his mouth creeping into a smile as soon as he saw his daughter. "Well, well, well. Look at you! How's my babygirl today? You best have been staying the fuck out of trouble." He smirked, resting his treasured bat on his shoulder as he looked down at her. Immediately, he sensed something was wrong but it didn't take a fucking genius to tell something was right about her. All that blood was a dead ringer that she had most certainly not stayed out of trouble, and the fact she was anxiously looking down at the concrete floor beneath her instead of greeting her father with a warm hug like she normally did when he back from his visits to the other communities let him know something had definitely happened while he was gone.

"Lily, look at me," Negan said in a calm voice at first. She kept her eyes to the ground, too frightened to look up. "Did I stutter? I said look at me," he repeated but this time in a more stern tone of voice.

The blonde brought her blue eyes up to meet his face, a million excuses running through her head as she tried to come up with something clever yet believable to tell him to explain her current condition. Unfortunately, the words just weren't coming out at that moment.

"Where the hell have you been? Your fucking knee is bleeding like hell and you look like you crawled out of the goddamn sewer." Negan frowned, eyes falling on her injured knee.

"I um, I tripped up the stairs in the sanctuary, daddy. I'm clumsy, you know me." She replied casually, a strained smile on her face.

Negan snorted, not believing it for a second. "Fell up the stairs my ass! You were out in the woods again, weren't you? You know the fucking consequences and yet you still fucking disobey me." He said in a low intimidating tone, hand tightening around the base of Lucille as he clenched his jaw tightly. He'd never hurt her. Never in his entire life, not even before the damn apocalypse started, did Negan ever raise a hand to his daughter. He'd have to think of something though to get it through her head that leaving the Sanctuary was forbidden, even if that meant someone was going to suffer on her behalf.

Lily bit down on her lip hard, hands shaking lightly as she averted his gaze. There was no point in saying anything else.

"Go to your fucking room. I'll deal with you later. Where the fuck is Dwight?" Negan asked with a heavy sigh, looking around and then at Simon who simply shrugged. "Don't just stand around gawking like a moron. Go get his ass and bring him here now!"

Lily quietly disappeared into the corridors, heading back to her room like a puppy with its tail in between her legs. Needing to take his anger out on something, Negan took his bat and walked straight over to the walkers on the fence and fucking went to town bashing their brains in. He was pissed and had every right to be. Who did she think she was? Did she want to get fucking bit? Did she want to die just like Lucille had?! He hit the walker over and over again with his bat until there wasn't anything left but a mess of guts and blood on the ground. The longer it took Simon to get Dwight, the more infuriated he grew.

Dwight knew Negan was going to be pissed. His ass was about to be handed to him for sure, and it would be surprising if he even still had an ass after Negan took the bat to him...or worse. When Simon came to fetch him, he had no choice but to slink back out of hiding like the scared little mouse he was. Since Daryl wasn't here, he could always blame it right on him. Not like he was here to defend himself or anything. But if the little princess spilled the beans to her daddy, he'd be in a world of trouble trying to cover up what he did.

Simon had Dwight by the shirt collar, dragging his sorry ass over to where Negan was waiting for him by the fences. Dwight kept his eyes away from his boss the whole time, too petrified to even look him square in the eyes.

Negan turned around, smirking at Dwight as if he wasn't pissed anymore. "There's my Dwighty boy!" At that moment, Dwight knew he was beyond fucked since nothing good ever came out of Negan's smiles. Simon pushed the lanky man over to Negan with so much force he fell over himself and skinned his knees on the concrete through his jeans. Negan shook his bat, flinging blood all over Dwight until the younger man was trembling on his knees.

"Now, tell me. What were you doing this afternoon? Because it looked like you fucking let my daughter wander to god knows fucking where and get hurt. As my fucking right hand man you were supposed to be watching her!" Negan grimaced, getting in Dwight's face as he crouched down in front of him. Dwight panicked at his sudden closeness to Negan since the older man was close enough to breathe directly on his scarred up face.

Negan didn't let Dwight say anything yet as he continued. "I also get a fucking message over the Walkie- Talkie that you can't even watch Daryl for one goddamn second before he escaped too. It's not looking good for you Dwighty boy." He said in a low menacing tone, shaking his head like a disappointed parent would to a misbehaving child.

Dwight really hadn't come up with a good enough excuse yet. "Look, it was all Daryl's fault," he blurted out before the words could stop. "He broke free and while I was searching for him, I lost sight of Lily and-" Just then, a pack of motorcycles could be heard pulling up to the sanctuary.

With bags over their heads and their arms bound, the group of Saviors shoved their two captives—Daryl and Aria—off the bikes and towards the front gate where Negan, Simon, and Dwight were standing. Daryl had drifted back into consciousness and didn't need to see to know exactly where he was, especially when he heard the voice of the leader of the Saviors.

"Look what the cat dragged in!" Negan cocked his head to the side as the Saviors snatched the bags off to reveal Daryl and Aria to him.

Dwight's heart sank as he the bags were removed from the prisoners' heads, revealing no one other than Daryl himself and that other chick that Lily was getting up in his face about. But fuck, with both of them here, it was going to be hard lying his way out of this one.

Aria had been panicking from the moment the Saviors snatched her up and hoisted her on the motorcycle, but did they really need to bag her up like a corpse?

She and Daryl were both prisoners to the Saviors now but she wasn't sure for how long. Daryl had tries to escape earlier and the likelihood of them letting him live after a gutsy move like that was slim. As for her… Well, she was one of Rick's groupies so why wouldn't they kill her? Even though she hadn't been there to personally witness the tragic massacre, Aria had heard what Negan had done to Abraham, and then what he did to Glenn because Daryl had socked the bat-wielding demon square in the face. She wouldn't be surprised if Negan killed her right then and only to force Daryl to endure watching someone else get their heads bashed in because of his actions. Even if Aria had a feeling that was going to be her fate, she couldn't bring herself to blame Daryl. She would have done the same thing had she seen Abraham get brutally beaten to death, and she also would have done whatever she could to escape the Sanctuary.

Whatever that was in store for the both of them couldn't be good. Thankfully, the Saviors hadn't found the small pistol stored in the muddy boots she wore. They had checked her everywhere for weapons except her shoes so maybe she and Daryl could find a way to take Negan out with her small gun. If they were going to die anyways, they might as well die trying to kill the leader.

"What's your plan?" The brunette whispered to Daryl as the Saviors pushed them towards their leader. "Cause I know I can't be the only one trying to figure a way out of this."

"Don't do anything stupid and rash," he hissed back at her. "Just keep quiet and maybe they'll spare you since you're a girl. It's over for me but you can still make it out of this as long as you don't piss him off."

Negan walked straight over to them with a light bounce to his step, whistling casually as he stood in front of the two. He pointed his bat at the girl. "You. What's a fine ass little thing like you doing out here?" He smirked, looking her over. He was pretty sure he had never seen her before; it'd be hard to forget a face and body like that.

Aria couldn't bring herself to look up at Negan even as he pointed the wired bat at her. This same man, the one who found it perfectly fine to slaughter her friends and steal from all the communities in the area, was now standing before her. She refused to give him the honor of seeing the fear in her eyes and she kept her head down, choosing to do what Daryl had suggested for the time being and not make any sudden movements. With her wrists bound by rope, there was a slim chance of her getting to her small gun, clicking the safety off, and blowing Negan's brain to bits before someone shot her first.

The young woman didn't respond to him and he cocked his chin up, continuing to examine her. "What's the matter? Cat got your tongue? Or are you mute?"

Aria still refused to speak to him, so Negan turned to the Saviors who had captured the two of them in hopes of getting more answers. "What was ole' Daryl doing out in the woods? Was he alone or was she with him?"

"You should ask Dwight. Last I heard he was saying something about having to go "find your damn daughter" and last I saw him he was taking Daryl with him," said a rather big boned man with tons of tattoos up and down his arms and an expression which showed what looked like fear.

Negan pinched his brow, clearly done with all the bullshit that today had brought on. "So why in the goddamn hell wasn't I informed of this first?!" He spat, gripping onto Lucille. "Ya'know what? Bring them both in to the main room and I'll deal with them in a bit. Simon, get Dwight's ass in the chair. I'm itching to burn the other half of his fucking face off right now." Negan scowled as he looked at his right-hand man with the handle-bar mustache. Dwight, who stood beside him, wore an expression of sheer terror on his ugly face as Simon forced him inside the Sanctuary.

Much to Aria's surprise, the older man didn't say anything else to neither her nor Daryl. For the time being, it looked like they were going to be spared from his wrath as he directed it onto someone else-the wretched asshole named Dwight. Everyone was soon ushered into the compound and both Aria and Daryl were dragged along, too.

Simon had the blonde, scraggly man thrown into a wooden chair, his arms and legs bound to it with hand-cuffs. Dwight was about ready to piss himself over the situation he found himself in yet again while Negan began rallying up the other Saviors nearby. There was no point in giving an impertinent troublemaker a rightful punishment unless he made a grand display of it to send out a message to all the others who had any foolish ideas of going against his orders.

The large room was full of Saviors but there was somebody missing, somebody who really needed to fucking see this. "Hey, Simon, go and get Lily while the furnace heats up. I want her to see what kind of consequences are brought upon others when she decides she wants to do things her way," Negan grimaced.

Knowing better than to go against his boss's orders when he was already fired up, Simon nodded and headed straight for Lily's room on the other side of the compound. He knocked on the door as she hesitantly opened it. She immediately rolled her eyes at the sight of her father's most disgusting lackey.

"Hey princess. Your father is requesting you come with me." Simon sighed, clearly not wanting to be there as much as she didn't want him there.

"Why? What for?" Lily questioned him, wary of his intentions.

"You'll see." Simon said curtly. Lily had no choice but to follow him, but a sense of dread filled her stomach as she realized what room they were heading towards. As soon as they made it to the large meeting hall, Lily knew exactly what was about to happen when she saw Dwight sitting in the chair with his hands bound. Lily looked at him with an expression of fear for him, knowing that soon the room would be filled with thick, pungent smell of burning flesh.

Lily was conflicted. Dwight had put his hands on her—he had tried to _rape_ her—and would have been successful had Daryl not tried to save her. Dwight was a creepy jerk and always made inappropriate comments about her behind his back, and he was about as pleasant being around as a wasp was. She knew he deserved having his skin burnt off this time, even if she always believed her father had gone overboard with using it to punish him the first time when he and Sherry had tried to escape this place, but her chest still ached painfully at the thought of Negan's sadistic actions.

Negan put a hand on Lily's shoulder, distracting her from her thoughts as she slowly cast a glance at her father. "Gather 'round everyone. This right fucking here is what happens when rules get broken." Negan spoke up as everyone from workers to Saviors gathered around him, filling up the room to full capacity. In the far corner she saw Daryl and Aria standing off to the side, guarded by two heavily armed brutes. Lily caught Daryl's eyes as she glanced over at him. She felt like all of this was her fault. She should have never run out this morning. Because of her all of this was happening.

It didn't take long for Daryl to notice another familiar face in the crowd-Lily. Their eyes met briefly before Daryl tore them away. He highly doubted Negan was going to scar her pretty face with burn marks but it was still possible that Dwight wasn't going to be the only one marred that night. He and Aria, however, should feel lucky if burns were all they received.

Dwight, fully strapped to a chair in front of the piping hot furnace as it heated up the room, knew there was no getting out of this one. He could either take it like a man or make sure he wasn't the only one getting burned that night. There had to be some way he could make Daryl pay for this and suffer the same treatment.

Just as Negan slipped his hands into a pair of thick gloves to reach for the burning iron, Dwight's loud shouting carried throughout the stillness of the compound. "Daryl attacked Lily!"

His words obviously caught the attention of his leader, so he continued on. "I saw it with my own eyes. He had her in a chokehold and threatened her!" He could have easily tried to twist things around and say he heroically saved her from Daryl but he knew Lily would just deny it. At least by pointing out that Daryl had indeed grabbed her, he wasn't lying-not even Lily could dispute that, right?

Aria was shocked by Dwight's statement, staring at her comrade beside her as several Saviors huddled close by in case they were ordered to shoot Daryl on the spot for Dwight's accusations. With nothing to say in his defense, Daryl looked Lily in the eye once more. For her own sake, he hoped she wouldn't deny that it happened or try to make matters any more complicated for herself. What would Negan do if his own daughter tried to stand up for another man?

Lily could hardly believe Dwight was still trying to pin the blame on someone else. She had looked at Daryl again as she felt his eyes burning a hole through her, and she knew something needed to be done even if they were all just thrown into a bad fit of "he-said, she-said" arguments.

"Lily, tell me the fucking truth," Negan sighed, obviously annoyed at everyone pointing fingers at each other. At this rate, he was going to burn all these fuckers' faces off just for being a nuisance.

Lily closed her eyes before slowly opening them back up. "Daryl Dixon helped me. Yes, he grabbed me but he did so in order to make sure I wasn't going to try anything. Daddy, I snuck out. Yes, I'm sorry. Daryl heard the timer go off in my bag and it startled him. That's when he grabbed me. But-" She shot a cold glare over at Dwight, the kind that was sharper than any sword. "That bastard tried to rape me." She said in a dark tone as she pointed at Dwight. "If Daryl hadn't have been there when he was I'm afraid of the things Dwight could have done. So therefore, I don't condone his punishment."

"Is that fucking true? Did you threaten my daughter?" Negan made his way through the crowd, walking over to the far corner where Daryl and Aria stood. He eventually stopped when he was standing merely inches from Daryl, their difference in height apparent as the dark haired Savior stared down the redneck.

"I did," Daryl replied honestly as he stared back at Negan with a hard gaze.

"Not only that but what Lily said was true? That Dwight just to rape her and you helped her?" Negan inquired, raising a brow. God, Lily hoped Daryl would say yes. At least he'd be telling the truth and Negan would favor that much at least.

Following after her father, Lily placed an arm on Negan's and tugged on the sleeve of his black, leather jacket. "Daddy, if anyone is to blame here it's me. This is all my fault for sneaking out. Please," she tried pleading with him, not wanting Daryl to have to suffer for her mistake. She knew her father wouldn't let Daryl go, but if she could keep him from melting his face off, that alone would be a huge deal. As for Aria, she hoped her father wouldn't do anything rash to her either.

Daryl wasn't the least bit worried about what was going to happen to him. His fate was sealed the moment he was taken to this place and he knew his life was going to end here in the Sanctuary, but that didn't mean anyone else needed to suffer, especially Lily. Before Daryl could say anything else, Aria felt the need to chime in as well at this point.

"I was there," the brunette said, looking from Daryl to Negan. "I was lost in the woods and bumped into Lily before Dwight attacked us. Lily was actually trying to protect me from him. He's nothing but a lecherous pig." While she had played little part in the squabble between the three of them, she felt indebted to Lily for going this far to reach out to her and protect her. Perhaps not all Saviors were scumbags like Dwight and she'd back up both Daryl and Lily as much as she'd need to.

Negan regarded Aria's words with a sly smirk. "Oh, so you can talk. Here I was thinking you sold your voice to a sea witch for a pair of sexy legs," he joked before looking back at his blonde daughter, only to have Dwight's shrill voice interrupting their conversation.

"THIS IS UTTER BULLSHIT, NEGAN!" Dwight couldn't have been more furious over how quickly Lily was trying to turn the tables on him, even if it was true. He was panicking more than he ever had before and was desperate to say anything to change Negan's mind, even if his own words would end up being his down fall. "I didn't try to rape her! She's full of shit! That little slut came on to me first! Just look at the length of her fucking shorts—she's been begging for my attention!"

Lily shot Dwight another glare as he tried to deny it; even with all their words against him, he was trying to wiggle his way out of this. "Shut the hell up, Dwight! You know what you tried to do and don't even try to deny it now! As if I'd ever come onto you a snake like you!" Lily snapped, abandoning her father's side to storm over to where the slimy little liar was sitting. Negan reached out and snatched up her arm, pulling his little firecracker away.

Lily was normally so sweet, so docile, and to see her get worked up over this was more than enough for Negan to know Dwight was guilty of pretty skeevy shit. Nobody got away with calling his babygirl a little slut and he was going to enjoy frying up Dwight's face like an omelet after that. "Enough, Lily. Let me handle this," Negan said to the petite blonde in an exasperated voice. "I've heard all I need to know."

Aria and Daryl remained silent as they watched the scene unfold before them. They hadn't expected things to escalate like this and Daryl turned his head away, knowing good and well what was coming to Dwight next.

"Dwighty boy, Dwighty boy." Negan mocked his name. "Simon hand me that fucking iron," he demanded. Simon took the iron from the furnace using a metal pole before handing it to his boss once his thick glove was fully covering his hand. "Hope you weren't saving that pretty face for later because you're about to be one ugly son of a bitch."

Without wasting another moment, Negan brought the iron to the man's cheek and pressed it firmly against it. His skin cooked underneath its burning plate, liquefying and melting down his face like candle wax. Dwight could do nothing but scream as Negan kept the fiery tool against his flesh before finally pulling it away, only to set the iron back into the furnace.

Even if Dwight deserved, Lily couldn't help but look away. She didn't like her father's methods of torture. She heard Dwight scream in agony before the putrid smell of burning flesh made her want to vomit.

Surprisingly, Dwight didn't lose consciousness from the pain but that was probably due to the fact that this wasn't his first time being severely burned. He took the pain, tears falling from his red, swollen eyes, as he sobbed in agony.

"Now, now Dwight boy. I expect nothing but top notch fucking gentleman behavior from your ass from now on." He patted Dwight's face on other side, commending him on his strength for taking it like a champ. Simon was hurriedly rushing to Dwight's side, unstrapping him from the chair so Doctor Carson could tend to his melted cheek in the infirmary.

Hopefully Dwight learned his fucking lesson or else he'd be grilling his puny little dick off next, Negan thought with a huff. Well, the issue of Dwight was taken care of and hopefully Lily learned her lesson about sneaking off. He turned to his daughter, "I think it's high time you get that fucked up knee tended to. Oh, and since Daryl has treated you like a princess…" Negan announced with a grin as he paused for dramatic effect. "I've decided that he's taking Dwight's place as my new right hand man. Along with Simon, of course. Any man who protects the dignity of my little angel is someone I can trust whole-heartedly. What do you think about that, Daryl?"

Shit. Lily didn't know if that was a good thing or not. She looked over at Daryl, trying to read his expression only to see that he looked more horrified over his new promotion than he had been when Negan challenged him earlier.

"And for that pretty little thing," Negan nodded his head towards Aria as he leaned in close to Simon, giving him yet another order. "Make sure she gets cleaned up and put her in a room. I wanna' have a little chat with her in just a bit."


	6. The Options

Most of the men in the room were seemingly unbothered by the gruesome scene of Negan mercilessly melting the side of a man's face off. It was as if they were almost used it, maybe even happy it wasn't them in the iron chair, and it was obvious that none of them were even considering stepping in to put a stop to such a cruel, inhumane punishment of one of their own. Dwight had already fainted from the overwhelming pain of having the other half of his face completely roasted off, and Aria could hardly stomach the sight of him slumped over in his chair. That guy was going to need some serious morphine in the next few days, and she was betting that they had tons of the good stuff here. She had a feeling this place was full of medical supplies of all kinds since Negan and his men were known for stealing half of everyone's shit all across the various communities.

This wasn't the time to really worry about that, though. While everyone was distracted with Dwight's "punishment", she and Daryl needed to focus on finding a plan of escape.

Without her glasses, it was hard for her to see very clearly. Fuzzy, blurred faces were blending together in the crowd and she squinted extra hard to try to make out the finer details of her surroundings. While Aria glanced around, studying the people around her and the weapons they carried, even her blind ass could see that there was only one person that was truly disturbed by Dwight's position. Standing almost right next to Aria and her guards was a tall, slender woman around her mid 30's. She had long straight brown hair and wore a slick, black dress. She had immediately stood out from all the other brutes in the room with her feminine appearance, but as soon as Dwight passed out, something dark and menacing crossed over her features. She was glaring right at Negan for a moment before shifting her icy gaze over to Lily. For such a pretty woman, she wore such an ugly, bitter expression before she angrily pushed through the crowd and exited the room.

Aria didn't get a chance to think about the woman any further as Negan made a shocking proposition concerning Daryl taking Dwight's place as his trusted henchman. Daryl, naturally, didn't seemed too thrilled by the idea but chose to remain silent as he gave Aria a puzzled glance out of the corner of his eye.

This was a joke, right? This had to be a joke. Not even Negan was dumb enough to blindly place his trust in a wild tiger like Daryl. He had to have known where Daryl's loyalty truly rested and giving him too much trust and responsibility would only end up biting him in the ass. Keeping your friends close and your enemies closer wouldn't work in this kind of scenario. What was he thinking?

"Daryl—" Aria tried to whisper to him to get his attention, but he quickly shook his head, silently urging her to keep her mouth shut.

Daryl felt a firm hand fall on his shoulder, and he didn't have to turn around to know exactly who it was.

"Simon, make sure Daryl here gets a proper room. Better yet, give him Dwight's." Negan smirked as he spoke in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear. "There's going to be some major fucking changes around here, but part of the fun is just waiting to see what happens."

Daryl didn't like the way Negan was smiling at him. It was almost as if he was daring him to try something, daring him to step out of bounds, so he'd have an excuse to knock his head right off his shoulders with his precious barb wired bat. He wasn't stupid; Daryl knew better than to make any sudden moves right now.

An irritated voice came out from behind Daryl and Aria. "All right, both of you follow me. It's going to be a fun evening, can't you tell?" Simon's tone was oozing with sarcasm, and he had a feeling he was going to have his work cut out for him for the evening. Simon wasn't convinced giving Daryl any sort of freedom outside of a jail cell was a good idea, but he wasn't about to argue with the big guy's orders.

Both Daryl and Aria still had their wrists bound by ropes, but even if they didn't, they still knew that now wasn't the time to try and fight their way out of this place. Obediently following the orders given to them would be their best bet to stay alive, and neither of them dared to say anything to each other as they followed Simon out into the hallway.

Once Simon had taken the two Alexandria residents out of the furnace room, Negan focused his attention back on his daughter. There was still a lot more to the story other than Dwight trying to assault her and Daryl valiantly rescuing her, he was sure, but he had his hands full at the moment. He could dissect Lily's story later, get out all the little nitty gritty details out of her, once he handled his other business.

"Lily, go get that knee tended to. That's an order," he shot a look at her which meant business, giving her no room to argue.

Lily had been staring at Daryl's back while Simon escorted him and Aria out of the room before her father's voice stirred her from her thoughts. "Oh, um, yes, daddy. Of course," she said, nodding her head to him as she walked out of the main hall and towards Dr. Carson's office. The pain in her knee was getting a bit worse so it was probably a good thing she was about to get it looked at, but just before she reached the door to the infirmary, a young woman started stalking towards her from the opposite end of the hallway.

Sherry, Dwight's ex-wife, had her hands curled into fists at her sides as she stormed over to the little blonde.

"It's all your fault!" Sherry sneered as she stood in Lily's path, blocking her entrance to Dr. Carson's office.

"Excuse me?" Lily asked, raising a brow at the woman. She had always made a point to not really speak to any of her father's "wives" since she had never agreed with his unconventional desire to build a harem to satisfy his needs during his reign. She knew that being a playboy was his way of dealing with her mother's death, but that didn't mean she was ever happy about him drowning the pain with other women. It disgusted her even more so knowing his "wives" were more of a business pact than anything. He had something each of them wanted and intended to give it to them at a price. That price, however, was their unbreakable devotion to him under the guise of a marriage.

Sherry was a bit different than the other wives. She didn't want a work-free life, protection, or material goods from him the way the other wives did. She was just a bargaining chip that enabled Negan to spare Dwight's life after the two of them had tried to escape a month prior. If Sherry agreed to marry Negan, Dwight lived and got off with just a few scars on his face. A small price she had to pay to save her husband's life. Well, ex-husband now.

Whether or not Dwight and Sherry were still married didn't apparently matter; Sherry was still very protective over him and was ready to fight anyone who dared to threaten him or his position.

"Because of you, Dwight had to suffer even more! Why did you sell him out like that?!" Sherry hissed, eyes burning with fiery hatred.

"He tried to rape me." Lily replied in a flat tone. It was the truth. Dwight had tried to attack her in the woods, and if it wasn't for Daryl, who knows how far he would have gone. The man was creep, a slimy fucking creep, and she wasn't about to feel bad for telling her father the truth about what he did.

Sherry didn't believe it for a second. "Just stay the hell away from him. You've caused enough harm. If you think this is over, you're in for a rude awakening." She would have continued this conversation more but the sound of footsteps approaching encouraged her to think better of it. She stepped aside, allowing Lily passage into Dr. Carson's office, but not before bumping roughly into her left shoulder as she passed her by.

Lily grunted under her breath as the other woman shoved past her, but she chose to let it go for now. Despite everything, she felt kind of bad for Sherry. All the woman wanted was to believe her lover wasn't the scumbag everyone knew he was, and Negan held her freedom tightly in his hand because of their marriage pact. Lily didn't really blame her for being bitter, but she'd eventually see the truth about Dwight one day. If she was smart, she'd pack up her bags and just leave the Sanctuary, Negan, and even Dwight behind her.

Lily stepped inside the infirmary and greeted Dr. Carson with a strained smile. "Hey, Doc," she said in a small voice. "Daddy wanted you to take a look at my injury. Do you think it's fatal?"

Dr. Emmett Carson had treated many of Lily's careless injuries over the past few years. The girl was always getting into trouble behind her father's back and was always sneaking out of the Sanctuary, but he never ratted her out. He liked Lily and didn't want her to suffer any more than she already had. She was just a kid when the world went to shit and the dead started rising, and even before her father took over as the leader of the Saviors, he had always enjoyed her feisty spirit and childlike sweetness. Not even being the daughter of a ruthless man like Negan could ever burn out her radiant smile, and he vowed to never do anything to put that smile at risk.

"Yep you'll need stitches for sure," he said, examining the cut. "But it doesn't look like it's infected. Just sit back and relax and I'll get this taken care of for you."

Lily but down on her lip at the thought of having a needle jab through her skin. "Ugh...guess I deserve this, too." She muttered under her breath.

Before Simon took Daryl to Dwight's old room, he dropped Aria off in a private room at the end of the hallway.

"Wait in here for Negan," the balding man said as he ran a hand down his handlebar mustache. He then reached for the ropes around her wrists and began to loosen and untie them, freeing her from her restraints. "You can use his bathroom to clean up and make yourself more presentable to him, but I wouldn't recommend touching anything else in there. Negan doesn't like for people to mess with his stuff."

Aria could feel her heart hammering in her chest as Simon pushed open the large white door. "Why does Negan want to meet with me?" She asked as he ushered her inside.

"You'll find out soon enough," he grunted before closing the door, leaving her completely alone in the large, fancy bedroom.

This wasn't just any bedroom either. This was Negan's bedroom.

There was a king-sized bed towards the left of the room that was adorned with a black quilt and puffy pillows. Wooden shelves decorated with potted plants and expensive looking vases lined the walls as a black leather couch and a set of matching chairs sat in the middle of the room surrounding a coffee table. There were even a few animal heads hanging up on the walls, like a boar head and a deer head, and Aria immediately felt more uncomfortable in here than she had in the large room with the furnace.

His bedroom was very, very ordinary. It was clearly a man's bedroom, especially considering the bottles of Jack Daniels sitting on one of the back shelves, but the fact that this bedroom belonged to none other than Negan himself made her start to panic.

 _Okay, Aria, relax. You're alone for now. Let's just find a way to get out of here_ , she thought to herself as she walked over to the window to pull back the curtain. The window was unlocked but his room was on one of the higher floors of the factory. It'd be an awful long way down with very few things lining the concrete walls to help her climb down. And even if there was something she could grab a hold of, her vision was so poor without her glasses or contacts. It wouldn't take much to misjudge a ledge for her to put her foot on. If she fell from that height, a broken leg or two would be the least of her worries.

The sound of a doorknob turning made her heart jump up her throat, and she sharply turned around and backed away from the window to see the handsome leader of Saviors casually stroll inside.

"Well aren't you a sight for sore eyes," the dark-haired man said, a grin stretching across his face as his faithful bat hung over his right shoulder.

When Aria first met him outside, she refused to look at him. But now she found it difficult to look away, especially considering the horrifying event she had witnessed in the furnace room. He had burned off half of his lackey's face without batting an eye, so what would he do to someone from Alexandria? She needed to keep him in her sights and read all of his movements if she wanted to avoid getting her brains splattered all over his carpet.

She wasn't unarmed. She still had a tiny pistol stashed away in her right boot that the Saviors had missed after frisking her. Could she whip it out and shoot him before his bat got to her skull first?

Negan stepped towards her, only to pass right by her and head towards the liquor shelf in the back corner of his room. Lucille was set down on the floor, neatly braced up against the wall as he reached for a bottle of scotch. After he finished pouring himself a drink, he turned around to face her with a charming smile.

"So what's your name darlin'? Any special skills?... Can you fuck good?" The questions came out one right after another, and he laughed at the way she cringed in disgust at his third question. "Just kidding...I'm sure I know the answer to that."

He walked over to the large leather couch and took a seat, encouraging her to sit beside him as he gulped down the entirety of his drink in two gulps. Aria's eyes followed where he patted the couch beside him, but she instead chose to take a seat in one of the chairs across from him, putting in as much distance between them as she could.

"Well? Are you going to answer my questions, or do I have to ask again?" He taunted. He didn't seem angry that she didn't take a seat beside him, but she didn't want to push her luck by taking her sweet time replying.

"I'm Aria Capleton," she said, tucking a strand of dark hair behind her ear as she sat up straight in the chair. "I've been living at Alexandria for the past year as their surgeon. My skills lie in the medical field."

"A surgeon? Are you shitting me right now?" Dimples formed on his cheek as his grin broadened even wider. "And what was Alexandria's most valuable asset doing wandering out in the woods, just waiting to be snatched up by my men?"

The brunette started to fidget nervously with a strand of her hair. Had she been wearing her glasses, she would have busied herself by cleaning her lenses on her shirt to avoid looking straight into his gaze. He had such a predatory look on his face, the kind a hawk would give a mouse just before it gobbled its prey up.

"Well, you all came to the Sanctuary yesterday to take half our stuff," she replied, a bit of disdain lining the edges of her voice. "And after you left, I went with a group to go find more stuff for you. Well, we got separated because of a group of Walkers…and then I dropped my glasses and couldn't find my way back to our meeting point. I have poor vision without them…"

"Your glasses? Well, that fucking sucks. I can't imagine being blind during the goddamn apocalypse," Negan chuckled, shaking his head as he leaned forward in his seat. "It's a good thing my men found you then. You might've been Walker food before nightfall. You really outta' be thanking us for swooping in and rescuing you then."

 _As if!_ She would have much preferred to be outside fighting the dead than to be in the cozy bedroom that belonged to Negan. She had much better chances of surviving out there than she did in here.

When she didn't say anything, Negan continued. "Well, Miss Aria—beautiful name, by the way—I have a proposition for you," he said, flashing his perfect white teeth. "Would you consider working for me? We need all hands on deck, and you are just the fucking perfect candidate. We need another surgeon; a sexy one such as yourself is bound to be helpful to the Saviors in more ways than one. You'd have all you've ever wanted here. I can supply you with the right equipment, housing, fucking food on a plate every night. What do you say? Oh, and don't forget the best fucking goddamn protection of me and my men." He gloated, using his hands to create gestures to emphasize his point.

His eyes never left hers as he watched her expression flicker from doubt to hesitance. She had been living in Alexandria for a year which meant she was probably pretty close to Rick the Prick and his band of merry assholes. Her hatred for him and the Saviors for what they had done to her friends was evident by the way she cut her eyes at him. He didn't expect her to just cry tears of joy and thank him for being oh so very gracious with his offer, but she wasn't even bothering to hide her disgust towards him as she curled her brows forward and folded her arms over her chest.

"I work for Alexandria, no one else," she said curtly. "I will never help you or your people."

His smile dropped. "I was afraid you'd say that," he said as he scratched at the gray and black hairs on his chiseled chin. "But you know, I can't just take you back to them. That's just not an option, sweetheart. But, just so you know..." The grin came back just as quickly as it left. "If you refuse, there's still one other option. Hell, you may like Option B more." He stood up from the couch, only to step in front of the chair she was sitting in so he could lean over her. He placed both hands on either side of her armrests of the chair, leaning his face in as close as he could possibly get without his nose directly touching hers.

"Option A or B. You decide," he winked.

He was leaning in so close to her, close enough for her to see the fine lines of his handsome face and the slight hints of amber swirling around in his dark chocolate eyes. Her heart involuntarily skipped a beat at his closeness, but she quickly dismissed it as her nerves just being on the fritz. She had to say something to him even if it meant these might be the last few words she ever spoke.

Better make them count, she guessed.

"You want to offer me a job instead of just bashing my head in the way you did Abraham and Glenn? I'm touched. Really," she replied in a harsh tone, refusing to back her face away from his even though she wished she could put an infinite amount of distance between them. "As I said before, I work for Alexandria and no one else. I'd rather be smashed to bits than ever offer my services to you." She brought up a hand and jabbed a finger roughly against his chest. "Mark my words: if you so much as put me near any medical equipment, I'll make sure every last patient in the Sanctuary dies of blood loss, or receive a healthy helping of bubbles in their IV's."

She was on the petite side without any strong muscles, far from frightening or intimidating. She knew Negan wasn't phased by her threats—that much was clear by the way is eyes lit up with every word she spoke. It might have sounded like a load of bologna coming from someone like her, but Aria's loyalty lied with Alexandria. They took her and her brother in when no one else would. To betray by them by helping the enemy, by treating the wounds of all those heathens, would destroy her even more than dying would.

"So if you won't accept Option A, which is to work for me, you know that only leaves you with Option B, right?" He reminded her. "Once you choose Option B, there won't be any going back. Are you prepared for that, darlin'?"

This was it. This was her death sentence. "Option B it is then. Go ahead-throw me in the fire pit or reach for your bat or whatever it is you do with Option B's. I'll take whatever fate you give me. It'd be better than betraying my own people."

"Good choice," Negan said with a smirk. "I'm sure you'll look good all dressed in black."


	7. The Start of a Partnership

Lily winced as the last few stitches went in, her hands gripping the sides of the examining table as she kept her knee as still as possible until Dr. Carson was done. If there was one thing she hated as much as the walking corpses, it was needles.

"There. Now, I'd advise you to get plenty of rest. No running around or anything. The wound could still open if you mess those stitches up. Doctor's orders." The friendly doctor said, wrapping a protective bandage over her knee once all the needlework was finished. "It will scar but it shouldn't be too bad. And with that, you're free to go."

Lily peered down at her bandaged knee before slowly dangling both of her legs off the side of the table. Very carefully, she slid off the table to see if her legs were still strong enough to carry her back to her room at the very least. "Thanks doc, I'll try not to make any more visits here anytime soon," she sighed, giving him a small, apologetic smile. Any moment now some of her father's lackeys would be carrying Dwight's unconscious self into the infirmary to have his melted face tended to. It would have been much better for her to leave before he was carried in so she could avoid seeing the damage.

Although her legs were wobbly, she was able to stand and walk just fine. Dr. Carson had very precise with the stitches, and as long as she didn't try to run a marathon or sprint down the hallways, she figured she would be fine. With her knee taken care of, she could finally set out to check on the Sanctuary's newest "recruits" since her gut told her that things weren't about to be all easy-peasy lemon-squeezy for them since it was clear her father had something sinister cooking up for both Daryl and Aria. She could smell the pungent aroma of bullshit lingering around Daryl's new job as Dwight's "replacement", but she had also seen the fiery gaze he had given Aria earlier. When it came to pretty women, that could only mean one thing and wedding bells would soon be singing.

There was no way in hell she'd let her dad sink his fangs into her. Maybe if she could somehow reason with him, she could convince him to let Aria go back to Alexandria without a ring around her finger. It was a stretch considering Negan didn't listen to anyone most of the time, especially his own daughter, but she'd be willing to bend over backwards if it meant sparing her new friend from being trapped in holy matrimony with that misogynistic bastard.

Lily hobbled down the hallway, bracing her hand against the wall to steady herself, as she made her way towards her father's room. When she rounded the corner, she heard Simon's loud voice echoing down the hallway.

"All right, Daryl! You heard the boss. Because you selflessly swooped in and saved his daughter from that pepperoni face, that makes you the new Dwight!" The man with the pornstar mustache proudly declared. "I'm sure you know what that means!"

Daryl and Simon were both standing outside of the room where Dwight used to live. Simon was unlocking the door before he pushed it open, only to turn back around and hand Daryl the small, silver key.

"No, I don't know what that means," Daryl grunted, his voice gruff and coarse. He didn't ask for this. The last thing he wanted was to be Negan's puppy-dog, but it was better than being chained up and cast in the dog-house. At least now he had a better chance of getting out.

Simon scratched the back of his head, shrugging his shoulders. "If I'm being honest, I don't know what it means, either," the balding man admitted. "But if I were you, I'd just roll with it. Obey all commands given without question and your pretty little friend just might live to see the sun rise again."

Daryl flinched at those words. Negan must have known he wouldn't do anything rash or reckless while Aria was still on the Sanctuary grounds. His actions the first night he met Negan had led him to swing Lucille down on Glenn's skull, and Negan was always quick to painfully remind him that Glenn's blood was on his hands. If he so much as stepped out of line again, Aria could suffer the same fate.

There was no need to keep him strapped up in a strait jacket anymore; his hands were already tied with the noose around his friend's neck.

He cut his eyes at Simon, his upper lip curling upwards in a scowl. "You tell Negan that if he so much as lays one finger on her and I'll—"

"NOPE. That kind of behavior doesn't fly around here, and it'd be in your best interest to learn that quickly, Darry!" Simon chuckled, purposely calling him by an incorrect name as he gave the redneck one rough shove, pushing him inside his new bedroom and slamming the door in his face.

Simon let out a deep, disgruntled sigh from the back of his throat before the Walkie-Talkie on his belt relayed a quick message to him from the big guy himself.

"Simon, I need you to come take Miss Aria here see to my other wives. See to it that she gets the finest room in the house. And get the cooks to prepare a grand feast tonight so I can give my new bride the warmest of welcomes!" Ordered Negan on the other end of the radio.

Simon struggled to pull the radio out of his belt, grumbling to himself as he did. "He locked in the new bride already? Damn, he doesn't waste time, does he? Looks like it's going to be ab usy night." He was then bringing the speaker to his mouth, a wide grin on his face, before strolling back down the hallway, leaving Daryl to get comfortable in his new room. "Roger that, boss!"

Damn, so much for going to check on Aria right now. She wondered if Negan had already officially "proposed" to her, or if he was planning to do that at dinner. Either way, she wouldn't get a chance to speak to her father in private about releasing Aria until later, but Daryl was now alone. Now was as good of a time as any to try and talk to him.

Lily was relieved to see that Simon hadn't noticed her eavesdropping on their conversation, and she waited until he was out of sight before she silently made her way towards Daryl's room. She knocked once, keeping her voice low and quiet.

"Daryl? It's me, Lily."

She waited for a response, but when he didn't say anything, she tested the doorknob and slowly pushed the door open, peaking her head inside.

Daryl was facing her, an expression of both shock and confusion on his face, as he watched the blonde open the door up wider. "You probably shouldn't be in here. You'll get yourself in trouble."

He was quick to chastise her on her decision to trail after him, but at least she had gotten her knee taken care of first. He had immediately noticed the bandages wrapped securely around her leg and was relieved that she could still walk, even if her movements did seem a little wobbly. Truthfully, he had hoped the two of them would get a chance to talk again, but if Simon caught her sneaking inside of his room—

As if the universe could read his thoughts, a pair of voices talking and laughing could be heard just around the corner. Neither of the voices belonged to Simon, but Daryl didn't want to take any chances with her getting caught. Acting on impulse, he reached out and snatched up her thin wrist in his hand, tugging her into the room and quickly shutting it, trapping her inside.

Lily hadn't expected him to spring into action like that, but before she could snap at him for yanking her around, he had brought a single finger up to his lips, hushing her as two Saviors passed by the room. He waited until he could no longer hear their loud voices and obnoxious laughter before he finally relaxed his shoulders, taking a step back away from the door.

"Like I said, you'll get yourself in trouble if you stick around here for too long," he warned her, both arms folded casually over his chest as he put more distance in between them by stepping farther away from the door and further into Dwight's room. Well, it was _his_ room now apparently.

"Why are you so worried that I'll get in trouble?" Lily scoffed as she mimicked his posture by crossing her arms over her chest as well. "What does it matter to you?"

He didn't answer her question. He had some of his own that he wanted answers to first. "First things first, that was the dumbest shit you pulled earlier. You tried to make me look like a damn hero! Why the hell did you try to stick your neck out for me like that? You should have just tried to look out for yourself. What if Negan turned the iron on you, too?!"

She rolled her pretty blue eyes at him. "Why the hell do you care so much? Why care about what happens to me?" She sneered, her voice coming out harsher than she had intended. "Negan won't lay a finger on me. I'm not worried about that. I'm his daughter, remember? He has his ways of punishing me for misbehaving, but he'd never physically hurt me."

"He's a damn monster," Daryl growled back. "If your dad is crazy enough to create some kind twisted society where he's the king and he can behead his shitty peasants whenever he pleases, then he's crazy enough to hurt his own daughter. I wouldn't put anything past him, and neither should you. There's no reason you should risk your neck, even if he is your father."

"What did you expect me to do? Just sit back and let him play baseball with your head?" She shook her head, her voice softening a bit as she met his gaze with a sympathetic frown. "I was worried about you, dumbass. Can't you see that? I don't want daddy hurting anymore people."

"…Except Dwight," he said flatly.

"Dwight...well, he deserved it." She whispered, her voice trailing off as she looked down at her feet. "Look…You really helped me out earlier. I may not even be here if it wasn't for you. You could have just gone back to Alexandria, but you instead chose to save me. For that, I owe you my life. If you'll give me a chance, I can help you escape again. Tonight."

Daryl paused for a moment before releasing a deep breath of air that he had been holding back. "You're here asking me why I care about you while you're ready to risk your ass a second time by offering to help me escape. So, the real question is… Why do we both care?" He cocked his chin up and looked at her long and hard before dropping his arms back down to his side. "We both care because people like you and me aren't anything like Negan. We're humans, not savage animals."

When all this mess first broke out with the Walkers, Daryl could have easily become a monster like Negan to adapt to his new environment. The world had quickly changed overnight, and suddenly everyone was in a "kill or be killed" mindset-that went for both Walkers and humans alike. His brother had taught him that, too. But it was Rick and the others that showed him that there was always a choice in the matter. You can choose to turn into a devil and crush everyone around you to survive, or you could remain what you were born as-a human. If he stopped caring about others, he'd end up losing sight of himself again and lose the one thing that separated him from men like Negan: a heart.

"You should let me help you get out of here. I can make sure you don't get caught," Lily offered him a small smile before outstretching her hand. "But first, can we start over? I feel like we weren't properly introduced. I'm Lily. Let's be friends. It definitely beats being enemies!" There was a big grin on her face, and when he didn't immediately take her hand, she wondered if he thought she was an idiot or something holding her hand out like she was a child meeting the new kid on the playground for the first time.

He could have easily rolled his eyes at her childishness, but they had both done each other a real solid by now. There was no point in being an asshole after all they had been through, so he complied and introduced himself to her once again. "My name is Daryl. Daryl Dixon. And just to be clear, it will _never_ be Negan,", he said before taking her hand. Compared to his rough skin covered in callouses, hers was soft and smooth; hands that had never been tarnished by this cruel world. He wondered if she had ever killed anyone but knowing her father, Negan was probably eager to do all the dirty work himself.

Their hands were soon separated, but not before Lily noticed how warm and inviting his hand was. She quickly slid her hands in the pockets of her short, denim overalls, before his voice called her attention back to his face.

"There is one rule to being my friend," he said once his hand was joined back at his side. "You can't help me escape out of here alone. I'm taking both you, and the other girl, with me. Hell, we can take anyone else with us who's ready to get out of this shit hole."

"Well, Daryl Dixon, you really quite the badass," she commented, pleased by the fact he wasn't just out to save his own ass. "You have yourself a deal. I've been ready to get the hell away from here for a long time now, and I never want to look back. Daddy's kept me caged up in here long enough and there's obviously nothing here for me anymore."

She knew all the ins and outs of the Sanctuary. She had memorized where her father planted all of the guards and knew their blind spots by heart. Successfully getting out of the Sanctuary wasn't difficult for her…It was always the staying gone part she had struggled with. She been coddled by her father since the apocalypse, always being taken care of and never expected to get her hands dirty. If a Walker needed to be taken out, Negan did it. If someone needed to be dealt with, Negan handled them. He had taught her the basics on how to survive, but at the end of the day, she had always relied on her father to get her out of all sticky situations. In a way, she had never fully left the Sanctuary once and for all because she wasn't sure how far she could make it without her daddy's aid. She hated being weak, hated being spoiled, but it was all she really knew. She wasn't confident in her fighting skills, and after her little bout with Dwight, it was even more obvious to her that she wouldn't last a single day out there on her own.

But now she didn't have to do it alone. It seemed kind of unfair for her to depend on Daryl, but he was her best chance at getting out of here. He could help her get to another community safely, and she trusted that he wasn't the kind of man that would double-cross her and leave her for dead.

"Your community…Alexandria," Lily said. "Do you think they'd actually take me in? I mean, I know what my dad has done to your people…What if they don't want me around?"

Daryl wasn't entirely sure how Rick would respond to him bringing the daughter of the enemy into their home, but that was something they could deal with later. "Well, we just won't tell him you two are related."

"I'm sure daddy will come looking for me…" She mumbled. Going to Alexandria would only put others at risk, so she had a feeling she wouldn't need to stay there very long.

"Then we'll hide you, or make it seem like you ran off on your own. We'll figure it out. If we have to go and hide in the woods for a while, then we'll go hide in the woods. There are lots of bridges that we'll cross when we get to them, but for now let's focus on getting out of here without being killed."

It was touching to see that he'd go through so many loops just to ensure her safety, and it made her all the more eager to leave with him. It may have seemed silly to think that way about a strange man she had only met earlier that day, but she was already thinking of Daryl as her own knight in shining armor since he was so determined to rescue her from her cruel father.

"Like I said before, Dixon, you are a real badass," the blonde said with a tiny smile. "Before tomorrow, we'll be long gone from this place." Freedom was so close she could taste it!

Daryl went to stand by the window overlooking the compound, and he pulled back the curtain to take a gander at their surroundings. "Don't think of me as a badass just yet. Just earlier I was mopping up piss off the floor and toying around with Walkers inside a cage. You can call me whatever you want after I get us out of danger." Outside, there were plenty of men standing guard at every corner, much more than he had seen previously. They were all heavily armed, all on watch, expecting something out of the ordinary to happen. "We can leave, but not tonight. No, Negan will be expecting me to leave as soon as the opportunity arises. It's why he didn't have any guards stationed at my room. He might have already set a trap in motion. For now, we lay low and try to come up with a foolproof plan, one that doesn't involve any of us getting hurt."

He'd rather take longer to get out of there if it meant that nobody got hurt. Ideally, Daryl wouldn't leave there without leaving a trail of Negan's blood behind him, but that wasn't something he could achieve easily on his own. Negan wasn't just one man-he was an entire society of sociopaths, but there had to be others that were fed up with his reign on terror and ready for some major changes. If he could reach out to the sane ones, convince them that life without Negan was possible with their help, the chances of them all getting out of there alive would be infinitely higher. He had initially thought maybe Dwight could be convinced to betray his master, but that creep seemed to have an agenda of his own; he would be of no help to anyone but himself.

"How well do you know this place? Is there a weapons vault anywhere or we can sneak some guns out? I have a feeling he won't just hand any to me. Not yet, at least."

Lily agreed with every point he made. As much as she wanted to get out of the Sanctuary right then and there, it was better to wait things out. At least for a little bit.

"Actually, yes there is. There's an extra arsenal down in the basement. It's always kept locked though. Maybe...Maybe I can sneak in there one night." The wheels in her head started to turn as she paced around the room, lost in thought. "Simon has the key though. It'd be risky as hell, but I think I could do it. If we can find a way to distract Simon, I can snatch the key up."

Daryl nodded. "All right. So Phase 1 of the plan is to get the key to the arsenal."

"Let's wait until you show my dad that you're capable enough to be his right-hand man. You know, just to show him you can be trusted first. And we'll steal his guns and break out of here! But once we do bust out of here, we can head to my treehouse and gather all of my supplies there, like food and water, to get us through our trip back to Alexandria. Sound good?" Lily pepped up.

A grin crept its way up along his face. "One step at a time, sunshine."

"Right. Sorry! I'll try not to get too carried away just yet." She liked being rebellious and full of determination. Feeling this way was nothing new, but this was the first time she actually believed she could truly get away from her father, get away from the Sanctuary, and start her life anew somewhere far away. Actually seeing the world from outside of these walls and new communities was enough to spark her into thinking like Daryl. She may be Negan's daughter, but she was Lucille's, too. She was just happy that she at least inherited her father's cunningness in situations which was bound to come in handy.

"So to complete Phase 1, we'll need those keys…If Simon catches you trying to sneak his keys, it could get ugly. But tell me-how good are you at fighting?" When she had threatened him with the machete, she had seemed confident she could take care of herself, but for all he knew that could have just been all talk. "Have you ever killed a Walker? Or any of the living?" He leaned against a wall, keeping his eyes focused on her small frame. He knew better than to judge a book by its cover but to him she looked like a delicate flower that couldn't even defend itself against the bees buzzing around her. Then again, he had thought the same of Carol at first and look at how she turned out.

She shifted nervously in spot, digging the toe of her shoe against a small tear in the carpet on the floor. "Oh, well...I've never actually killed a walker. No person either. I know, embarrassing right?" She sighed, shyly keeping her chin pointed to the floor. "You'd think the daughter of Negan would actually know how to fight. But I guess if you're sheltered like me all you know how to do is garden and be a good little girl."

He was afraid of that. "If we want to bust out of here for good, you're going to need to learn how to fight in case someone like Dwight tries to come and take advantage of you again. Girls like you are hard to come by these days."

"Girls like me?" She asked, genuinely curious as to what he meant.

Damn. Did he really have to spell it out for her? "You know, young, feminine, and pretty...You get what I'm saying," he replied awkwardly as he outstretched his hand to gesture towards her entire body in general. He was never good at complimenting women, but he had hoped he was at least getting his point across.

A few butterflies began to spread their wings inside of her heart, and she blushed lightly from his compliment. It was hard not to smile at it, but he looked pretty serious so it wasn't like he was directly trying to flirt with her or anything. Of course not.

"Outside these walls, you won't be under Negan's protection anymore. Until now, you may not have had to worry about people crossing the line and trying to touch you, but it's a whole 'nother world out there. I can do my best to try and protect you, but if something were to happen to me, then you'll need to know how to defend yourself."

Lily tapped a finger against her chin lightly, eyes sliding up to the ceiling. "Well, I suppose I could learn how to fight and defend myself. That is, if I could find someone willing to teach me." Her voice had a light, airy tone to it before she peeked at him out of the corner of her eye.

Daryl couldn't help but smile at her statement. "Oh yeah? I think I know of someone that could help," he said before quickly hiding the grin by shifting his gaze away from her and towards a particularly interesting crack in the wall of his new room. "You know, it's kind of nice to actually meet someone who hasn't bloodied up their hands before. Everyone nowadays, myself included, has had to do something they weren't proud of. It's just the way things are."

Lily saw something pass over his features—regret for his own actions—but it quickly faded as he continued, his brows now curling forward.

"It's just crazy how different the two of you really are, you and your dad. You two are polar opposites."

"Tell me about it," she shook her head. "He wasn't always like this…Mom's death changed him."

Daryl didn't really want to hear any sad backstory about how Negan used to be a good, upstanding man before he lost his wife. None of that mattered. He was a monster now and did cruel, unspeakable things to those around him, and therefore needed to be stopped.

"I'll teach you how to defend yourself, but I won't go easy on you," he warned her.

Teaching Lily how to fight wouldn't be a problem as long as she didn't complain about his methods, but she didn't look like the type of girl that would. He never realized how good of an instructor he could be until he had Beth to look after. While he kept his eyes focused on the wall, a nasty thought slithered into his brain; the kind that he had hoped wouldn't ever pop up again.

' _Don't kid yourself, Daryl. Are you offering to help her because it makes you think you can make up for what happened to Beth? You think helping some other sweet kid will help you sleep at night? You're the worst._

He would have wallowed in his dark thoughts a little longer if her cheerful voice hadn't brought him back to the situation at hand.

"Awesome! I can't wait!" Lily giggled as she did a little fist pump into the air. "Do you think Aria will need lessons fighting, too? Or can she handle herself pretty good?"

Daryl shrugged. He didn't really know the girl that well besides the fact that she was Alexandria's main physician, but if she had lasted this long then she probably knew a thing or two. "Do you think Negan's put her in a prison cell by now? At least Dwight won't be around to blast 'Easy Street' in her ears all night, but we need to make sure she's okay first and foremost."

Lily's smile dropped as she rubbed the back of her neck. "Yeah…About that…" When she felt his gaze on her again, she continued. "I overheard him tell Simon to bring her to the corridors where he keeps his other wives."

"You don't think he plans to…" He swallowed hard, unable to even finish his sentence.

"I'm afraid so," she replied as she chewed on her lower lip for a moment. "But I'm going to try and talk to him as soon as I get a chance. I'm going to see if he'll consider letting her go, but I don't think it will be easy. At least if she agrees to be his wife, she won't be harmed. Daddy goes pretty easy on the ladies and he won't force her to do anything that she's uncomfortable with."

Daryl's jaw clenched tightly together until a vein formed along his forehead. "Are you fucking kidding me?!" He spat. Great, just fucking great. "And what if she declines to be his newest bride? I can't imagine she'd willingly go along with it."

"Daddy is pretty persistent when it comes to a girl he wants to be his wife. He'll find ways to get her to agree to it, but I still don't think he'd hurt her. Not until he's stressed all other options," she tried to reassure him. "We should find a way to talk to her and convince her to agree to be his wife. At least until we come up with a plan to break out. He'd never hurt any of his wives and is very protective over them. It'd guarantee her safety until we can get out of here."

While he didn't like the idea of her becoming one of his concubines, it sure as hell beat being locked up in a prison cell. "As long as you're certain he won't hurt her…"

It might have been hard to believe, but Negan had his own honor code when it came to women. He'd never rape anyone or force them to do anything they didn't want to. If he had one thing going for him, it was that.

"He's probably at dinner right now with his wives. He'll be occupied for a little while, so why don't you get cleaned up? I'm sure you're tired of wearing those clothes," Lily said, nodding to the long-sleeve sweatshirt with an "A" written in red, bold letters on the front.

"What, do I think stink or something?" He asked before lifting up his arm to get a whiff of himself. Shit, he smelled worse than a roadkill possum that had been baking in the sun for a few days. Of course he fucking smelled. The only shower he had gotten during his entire stay at the Sanctuary was when he was stuck in the rain outside. He wouldn't have been surprised if Lily felt the overwhelming need to wash her hands after touching him. "Yeah, I definitely need to change. Do you think any of Dwight's clothes would fit me?" He shuffled through an old, wooden dresser in the corner of the room and found a shirt and a pair of pants that "might" fit. Dwight was nothing but skin and bones, but he'd take what he can get if it meant he didn't have to smell like sweat and piss around Lily. "Damn, I wonder what they did with my favorite vest…Probably tossed it out or something."

"Don't worry, I'm used to being around people who smell like ass, but a shower wouldn't hurt 'ya." Lily stifled a giggle as he realized how unclean he was. It was a good thing the Sanctuary had running water, and now that Daryl was no longer a prisoner, he'd be able to take one whenever he wanted.

"Why don't you come with me to my room? I have a bathroom connected to mine so you won't have to use one of the community showers the workers downstairs use," she offered. Lily had never offered for anyone else to use her personal shower, despite the fact that most of the men in the Saviors group desperately needed to bathe, but she knew Daryl wasn't like the others and wouldn't try anything skeevy while in her bedroom. "As for your vest, I remember seeing Dwight wearing it yesterday. I'll check the laundry room for it, or one of the supply rooms, while you shower. It's gotta' be around here somewhere."


	8. The Ritual

While Aria waited for Simon to come retrieve her from Negan's room, she was trying her best to come to peace with the fact that this would be her last evening alive. She had chosen Option B, and it could only mean one thing.

Death.

Her fingers went up to brush against her neck, a sinking feeling rising in her chest, as she wondered how he planned to finish the job. If he was going to make a quick work of her death, he would have already used his trusted bat on her head. Instead, he had said something about getting her all dressed in black, so chances of it being swift and painlessly were slim. He was probably going to make a show of it, maybe dramatically kill her in front of all his people to teach them a lesson in defying him, which could be why he wanted to arrange to have her wear funeral attire. Negan had muttered something else into the Walkie-Talkie, something about 'the finest room in the house', but Aria was too busy wondering if she was going to be shot, strangled, stabbed, or forced to drink poison for her to really think much on what he was saying to Simon over the radio.

She must have looked extremely absorbed in her thoughts since Negan soon cleared his throat rather loud, bringing her attention back to him.

She really was something else, he found himself thinking as he drank in the sight of the beautiful brunette sitting across from him. "I do think black will look good on you. _Real_ good." He emphasized the word _real_ in a way that made her stomach twist into knots, but thankfully Simon arrived almost immediately after.

"Simon, my good man," Negan said as he stood up from his chair. "Take her to see Nancy. I'd like to see what my best stylist can do for her. She's covered in dirt and you know that simply won't do for one of my girls."

So he not only wanted his newest victim to dress in funeral attire, but he also wanted her to have her hair and makeup done? What a total sadistic bastard, turning her into some kind of eye candy before her final moments. What if he planned to do something with her corpse afterwards? Gross. That was not something she wanted to think about.

"I can't wait to see you for dinner. I'm sure it'll be a real delight for the both of us," he winked at her before Simon ushered her out, and Aria was left with even more questions than before.

"Wait a second! What kind of sick killer dresses his victims all fancy and takes them to dinner before he deals with them? Isn't that a bit of a—" The door was shut in her face, but she finished her sentence with a low mumble. "A…waste…"

Simon was standing behind her, a wide grin stretching across his face underneath his bushy mustache.

"So? New wife huh? Well, aren't you so lucky? You're only like, what, wife number seven? Eight? _Ten?_ Aw, who cares. Congratulations all the same!" He laughed, clearly mocking her.

At the sound of the word "wife", Aria's eyes nearly bulged right out of her head. Suddenly it all made sense. "Wife? _Wife?!_ Who said anything about being his wife!? I chose to walk the plank with my dignity intact, thank you very much!" Panic began to rise in her chest as the urge to run suddenly took over her.

"Oh, don't worry your pretty little head over it. Your job for the rest of your little pathetic life is just to sit there and look pretty for Negan. Among a few other things," he wagged his eyebrows provocatively before curling his hand around her forearm, dragging her down the hallway. His grip reminded her that running was not an option and she was going to see Nancy whether she liked it or not.

An older woman with dark, curly gray hair greeted her at the door. She had to be in her late 60's as wrinkles decorated her aging face. She was wearing a fancy beige dress suit with cheap, plastic pearls around her neck, and she reminded Aria of the older women she used to sit next to in church when she attended services as a child.

"Nancy, you know the drill," Simon nodded to her. "Make her look good for the big guy. Tonight's this girl's lucky night!"

The older woman smile continued to smile pleasantly as she beckoned Aria inside the small room that was a makeshift parlor. "Oh, that won't be difficult in the least. Aren't you just a pretty one? I can't wait to curly that pretty brown hair of yours!"

Aria was given no room to argue as the kind old lady took over, leaving Simon to go about some other business. Inside the room were wooden vanity sets with large mirrors full of all kinds of makeup and hair products. There was also even a styling chair where a pretty blonde was having her long, waist-length hair neatly trimmed in the back by another pretty little thing with fiery red hair. Two women dressed in fancy black dresses were applying their makeup in the mirrors, paying no mind to Aria as Nancy hurried her over to one of the vacant vanity dressers.

Oh, god. Option B was worse than she thought. Negan had a whole harem of women getting ready for the night's "festivities", and she shuddered to think of what he was planning to do with all of these gorgeous women. They had to have all been gathered to get dressed for a very specific reason, and she had a feeling that no horror movie could compare to whatever was cooking up in Negan's diabolical mind. She saw how easily he had scorched off Dwight's face, and how merciless he was with Glenn and Abraham, so whatever he had in stored for these women, these other _Option_ B's, couldn't be good.

Maybe things were even worse beneath the surface. Maybe "wife" was a codename for "sacrifice". Was he was going to sacrifice them all to the great gods of the Sanctuary, or whatever the fuck he worshipped?! Were they going to be a part of some sick ritual and be disemboweled on a table to please his deity?! Or maybe it was even darker and sicker than that. She wouldn't put it past Negan to think he was a god himself, or a supreme demon overlord, and maybe he planned to cut them open and drink their blood from a crystal chalice on the night of a full moon.

Her heart was pounding, morbid thoughts spinning wildly through her head, while Nancy began to comb through her long, luscious locks.

Aria had to remind herself that this was her choice. She had specifically chosen Option B so it was only fair that she let Negan do away with her however he pleased. If reenacting some freaky ritual with his other "wives", or sacrifices, meant she didn't have to save the life of a Savior, then so be it. Of course, she was going to take him down with her. The gun was still neatly tucked away in her boot and she would make sure no one caught wind of her secret weapon until the right moment. Maybe during dinner, while he was in the middle of performing the ritual, she could whip out her gun at the last second and blow his brains out. It would mean sudden death for her, she knew, but if she was going to die anyways, she might as well make her death count. If she was lucky, she'd be killed quicker by an armed guard than she would have been by Negan's hands.

Yes, it was the perfect plan!

She calmly stared at her reflection in the large mirror in front of her. "Make me the spiffiest, most glamorous sacrifice you can," she requested politely. "Cause I'm going to be the last virgin offering he ever lays his eyes on."

The other girls in the room exchanged puzzled glances, whispering amongst themselves about what this new chick was rambling on about, but Nancy shot them a cold glare to encourage them to hush their mouths.

"You got it, honey," the older woman said. The poor girl must have hit her head pretty hard if she thought she was going to be offered up as a sacrifice, or maybe Negan just a had thing for crazy, delusional women. Either way, her job was to make his new wife all dolled up and that was exactly what she planned to do.

* * *

After showering and putting on his best cologne, Negan was dressed to impress that night. He wore a clean, white short over his tightly fitted gray pants, and although he was donning his usual leather jacket, he had spent extra time on his hair that night and even trimmed his beard a little. He had to look his best, after all, if he wanted to make a good impression.

He had his workers set up the dining room that night in honor of his newest wife, Aria, and had them arrange a grand feast. Normally, he preferred to have dinner with his sweet little daughter, but he had a feeling she'd understand that he had other dinner obligations that night.

As he made his way into the dining hall, he saw that all of his other wives were already present. He always had a collection of pretty women at his fingertips and he never grew tired of looking at them. Frankie, Tanya, and Amber all sat at one end of the table, while his other wives, whose names he often got mixed up, were sitting across from them. Two chairs sat at the head of the table, reserved for Negan and his favorite wife of the evening. Sherry, having believed she would be the one sitting at the head of the table beside him since she normally was during their fancy "dinner parties", pulled out the chair beside her for Negan, but the older man shook his head as he motioned for her to get up.

"That spot is reserved for my newest wife tonight, darlin'. No hard feelings, right?" He smirked, pointing to the chair at the very opposite end of the table.

"Go to hell," Sherry muttered under her breath before hopping up from the seat to sit as far from him as was possible.

Aria soon joined Negan and his gang of beauties in the dining hall, and she shyly looked at the other women staring back at her. They were all so gorgeous, dressed to the nigh in expensive designer dresses and high heels that would have surely made Aria twist an ankle or two if she had tried wearing them herself. Nancy had set aside a sexy black gown for her to don as well, but something so fancy and feminine just didn't suit her the way it did those other women. She hadn't been allowed to wear her bulky combat boots and had instead slipped into a pair of black, open toe wedges that had the smallest heel out of all the shoes in the bunch. Without her boots, she had to hide her gun elsewhere. Thankfully, the good Lord had blessed her with a nice rack that made it easy to store things in when the situation called for it. The padded, black push-up bra she wore underneath the slinky black dress pushed her cleavage up quite nicely but also gave her the perfect hiding place for her pistol. Until now, she never understood the purpose of such heavily padded bras, but it gave her a little more wiggle room inside to keep her gun secured. She had a lovely, silk shawl draped over her shoulders that kept the slight bulge in her cleavage from giving away her weapon's location, but that didn't mean she could make any sudden movements or bend over too far or else her gun would slip out.

She tried to ignore the cold, empty stares the other girls in the room were giving her as she slowly made her way towards the long dining table. The dining hall, although set up in a fancy manner, had a creepy aura to it. The room was dimly lit from the brass candlesticks neatly arranged in the center of the table, and the black tablecloth had crimson red rose petals scattered across which really didn't help the ominous vibe. What should she have expected from a satanic ceremonial dinner, though? Slices of pizza served on cheap paper plates?

Aria wondered if the other girls were aware that they were all going to be brutally butchered up for the night's demonic ritual. They had probably missed the memo about what happened to Option B's since they all seemed too chatty and upbeat for women who knew they were about to die.

Negan had reserved a seat just for her right next to him, and Aria slowly walked towards the table, clutching the shawl even tighter around her shoulders. As she took the seat that was pulled out for her, she tried to ignore the venomous gazes being shot at her from every direction on the table, especially from the one sitting at the very end.

From the moment she had stepped into the room, Negan couldn't take his eyes off his new bride. "You look fucking beautiful tonight. That dress was a fan-fucking-tastic good choice for you," he said with a smirk, leaning back in his chair.

Not wanting to keep their leader waiting for very long, the workers were quick to bring in trays of food and placing them on the table. A delicious aroma filled the room as the table was soon full of a wide assortment of dishes. There was wine, an actual roasted pig on the table with an apple in its mouth (presumably a "gift" from Hilltop), mashed potatoes, fresh salad, and an assortment of fruit.

"Well dig in, ladies." Negan said, helping himself as he filled his plate to the top with the goods. Sherry didn't even care to eat. She took a sip of her wine but kept her eyes glued to Aria with a spiteful look in them. It wasn't just Sherry who was giving Aria dirty looks by this point, either; was nearly everyone was looking at Aria as if she had just run over the family dog with her car.

It was hard to feel hungry knowing that she would be dead before dessert arrived, and Aria simply stared at her empty plate as she felt goosebumps prickle across her skin.

"Why the hell is it so goddamn quiet in here? Everyone, meet Aria. She's new and I expect every single one of you to treat her with the utmost fucking respect. In fact, I propose a toast!" He said, raising his glass. "To Aria, the most beautiful goddamn woman in this room," he smirked, looking over at Aria as he clinked glasses with the other reluctant women sitting closest to him. "Now that's more fucking like it," he practically bellowed as the other girls started piling food on top of their plates.

Aria's hands started shaking, and she quickly folded her napkin in her lap over and over again to distract herself. The way he boldly complimented her and compared her looks to everyone else's couldn't have been more infuriating to the other women, and it only served to make Aria feel self-conscious. Even without her glasses she could feel their steely glares piercing daggers through her. If only they knew that this wasn't a competition to be an "actual" wife for Negan, but for a blood sacrifice for a crazy cultist.

"Aren't you going to eat, dollface?" Negan asked the brunette beside him as he took it upon himself to fix her plate full of food since she didn't look like she wanted to do it herself.

She said nothing but attempted to pick up her fork and poke at some of the food given to her. It certainly looked delicious, but a part of her wondered if maybe the meat wasn't actually roast pig but a roasted civilian. The pig was too beautifully crafted and sculpted for the apocalypse, so maybe it was a façade. Hey, anything was possible in this place-even cannibalism-but at least she knew the wine was safe since the other women were happily drinking down glass after glass.

Aria she didn't condone drinking because of the effects it had on a person's body and brain, but at least it took the edge off. The one known as Sherry seemed to be the most displeased with Negan's newest wife, and Aria had recognized her as the woman with "resting bitch face" that had been giving Lily the stink eye earlier.

"Negan, may I be dismissed?" Came a voice. It was Sherry's.

Negan cocked an eyebrow. "You haven't even eaten, darlin'."

"I'm...not hungry." Sherry retaliated, looking right at Aria with sheer hatred.

"Fine. Yes, you are excused. But don't come crawling back tonight saying you're fucking hungry," Negan responded before he resumed chowing down on the delicious meal his workers had worked oh so hard to prepare for him.

Sherry downed the rest of her wine before nearly slamming her cup back down on the table, and with a dramatic gesture, she shoved her chair backwards and stormed right out of the dining hall.

Aria was surprised Negan had let her leave just like that. Then again, did he really need that many women to sacrifice in one night? Whatever cult he was a part of, it was nothing like anything she had ever read about in her history books. In her experience in dealing with mentally unstable people, the best way to handle them was to play along with their fantasies. She wasn't sure if Negan was planning to kill all of them at once, but if she was successful with her assassination, then the other girls could be spared. If she was unsuccessful, and dear god she hoped she wasn't, it would still be best to have as few women in here as possible. All she needed to do was convince him that he didn't need to sacrifice that many women in one night. Easy enough, right?

"Um, excuse me, Mr. Negan," she whispered to him in a low voice, scooting her chair just a little closer to his to talk privately. "I don't mean to be rude or anything, but do you really need this many women for tonight's ritual? Are you trying to achieve Godhood or something by having this many women at once? I hope I'm not stepping out of line or anything, but I think just one woman will suffice. You can do more rituals later with the other girls. I should be more than enough, so why not let the other women go?"

Negan nearly choked on his wine at her gracious offering. " _Ritual_?" He repeated before throwing his head back in laughter.

Aria wasn't sure what was so funny about the situation. There was nothing funny about killing others in a ritual.

"Where did Negan dig this one up?" Tanya whispered to Frankie, trying her best to keep herself from snickering.

The redhead shrugged her shoulders. "Sounds like he's getting pretty desperate for new toys if he has to rob insane asylums."

Aria could hear them but didn't get a chance to say anything in her defense as Negan snaked an arm around her waist. "Damn, you just can't wait to get in my fucking pants, can you, sweetheart?"

He pulled her close, catching the brunette off guard as he brought his lips close to her ear before she had a chance to move away. "I was planning on askin' you to be the one to entertain me tonight anyway. You see, the first night is always the best. I treat you to some dancin', and we drink until we've had enough." His voice was as smooth as velvet, causing goosebumps to spiral down her spine, and she sat as stiff as a corpse in her seat as he continued on.

"Then, I'll strip you down, but only if you're willing, and I fuck you to your little heart's content." His breath was on her skin as Aria's cheeks turned fifty different shades of red. The other women were clearly trying to ignore Negan at this point as they focused on their meals. Some were even watching the two of them from the corner of their eye, but Aria wasn't able to differentiate if they were jealous or amused by the scene before them.

Wait a minute. Had she gravely misunderstood this situation? Aria's hands suddenly forgot how to work as they began to shake even harder, but luckily the wine she was holding only sloshed around in her glass instead of spilling onto her lap. "D-Dancing? _F-F-Fucking?!_ "

"You bet your sweet ass there will be a lot of that second thing," he chuckled against her, his nose brushing up against her cheek. His lips were dangerously close to hers as he spoke, but Aria was more worried about the contents of his statement then she was about his close proximity to her face. "Since you're so eager, how bout we end dinner early tonight and head back to my room right now?"

Unable to stand it anymore, Aria clumsily set her drink back down on the table to avoid dropping it completely. "Hold on a second there, buddy! Wasn't Option B supposed to be where you sacrifice me to the demon lord or something, or like, dissect my guts and drink my blood?! Aren't we all just virgins here to be sacrificed to your insane cult?!"

Silence fell over the room as Negan cocked a single brow up. "Uh, I don't know about you, but none of these beautiful ladies here are virgins. You think any of my wives would be after marrying a stud like me?" He chuckled, eliciting a few cold glares in his direction from the other girls.

So when Simon had said she was his "wife", he had meant, well, an actual wife. No wonder the other women were dressed up so fancy and didn't seem the least bit worried about their safety. Negan wasn't some creepy, cult-obsessed freak, but was just a horny bastard with a harem of women at his beck and call. Option B wasn't a death sentence, but an oath to live in holy matrimony with him.

Suddenly the whole "virgin sacrifice" thing didn't really sound so bad compared to marrying him.

"I don't know what crazy sorta' shit goes on in your pretty little mind, but I'm not some fucking crazed cannibal. Did you really think I called you all here to be a part of some satanic ritual? That. Is. Hysterical." He said, a hint of laughter in his tone as he reached for his cup to take another swig of his drink. Once he swallowed a mouthful of the savory wine, he sported a wide, naughty grin as he kept his sights locked on the brunette beside him. "But, if you're into role-playing some kinky shit like demons or vampires, hell, I will try my best to accommodate!" He said, a hint of a laugh in his tone.

Aria had never felt more humiliated in her life. She had completely jumped the gun on this one, fearing for the worst, but even if he wasn't a cultist, he was still a cold-blooded killer. Whether or not he sacrificed and ate his victims for dinner didn't change the fact he had slaughtered countless, innocent people.

He was still a devil in his own way, and she still had the gun tucked away in her cleavage. The plan was still the same. Lives were still at stake as long as Negan was alive, and even though her assumptions about him planning to sacrifice her weren't exactly accurate, she still needed to play whatever role he had set out for her if she wanted to be successful in her mission. If she wasn't going to play the part of a poor, defenseless sacrifice anymore, she'd switch things up and be the sweet, sexy wife he couldn't wait to get his hands on.

All she needed was to get him to lower his guard and shoot him point blank. Sounded simple enough.

"You know what? I think I would like to wrap dinner up now and get back to your room. I think a little privacy would be nice," she forced herself to say with a sweet smile.

Damn, she was going to need more wine if she wanted to get through this without losing her sanity.


End file.
